Greentime Episode #5 - Making Soymilk and Reviewing “The Green”
Amy comments on "The Green" on Sundance Channel, the opinions of some of its hosts, and the establishment of green prestige product industries. We really liked seeing more green programming on TV, but there's another side that might surprise you.
Then, Rhett takes to the kitchen to show you how you can make soy milk at home, getting one more industrial product out of your refrigerator. The recipe: just 425g of soybeans and 3L of water! References for this episode:
- Plenty, Apr-May 2007
- Cornell Study: Organic farming 15% more labor-intensive; uses 30% less energy
Formats available: Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
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Heather said,
April 20, 2007 @ 10:58 am
Completely agreed about making Green living more accessible to everyone, but it’s in the nature of the current culture that something must be trendy (& therefore marketable to the haves) before the media will pay it any attention… grrr… well, all press is good press, it starts somewhere. Thanks guys for another great episode!
JP said,
April 22, 2007 @ 3:31 am
That was fk’n AWESOME! The two “halves” of the show were the perfect mix that makes Greentime - analysis of where we are and where we need to go, and practical advice about simple, happy-making stuff. Soy milk looks pretty simple, but I honestly would have no idea where to get started without watching this.
LOVE the cat!
JP said,
April 22, 2007 @ 3:32 am
Oh, and M is using the CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) problem with honeybees as an example in her statistics class with the biotechnology students. W00t!
hugs!
Amy said,
April 22, 2007 @ 2:26 pm
Thank you so much for the comment, Heather. Good observations! I agree with you that powerful exposure is a great thing. If it’s trendy and that is effective, that’s great! I just don’t want it to appear exclusive. Marketing research shows that people will pay more for “green” labeled products, sometimes when maybe they don’t have to, and that they are marketed to higher income people. Lower income demographics aren’t targeted by environmentalists, probably don’t know as much about environmental issues and how they can be part of the solution. We don’t want to be seen as rich, fringe weirdos.
We are none of those things.
Amy said,
April 22, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Yay JP! And I’m glad to hear that M. is looking more closely at the bee issue. Interested to hear what she finds out. Such a weird issue.
And both Zamis and Opie were in that episode
susanna said,
April 23, 2007 @ 10:21 am
Perfect timing! My (soy-milk-drinking) 6-year-old daughter and I were just at Vitamin Cottage (our locally owned natural grocery chain) looking at the bulk soybeans and speculating that we could make some soy milk … we will try it! My husband said, “I bet it doesn’t taste good,” so we’ll try to prove him wrong.
Rhett said,
April 23, 2007 @ 10:37 am
Susanna,
Good luck with that, and let us know how it goes. It may take a batch or two until you get it just right. The most important part in making it taste good is that pre-cook done in the microwave. You can certainly cook them longer, but if they’re undercooked you can end up with a slightly bitter taste.
After that, the only other trick is sweetening and flavoring. I used to use light honey for sweetening, but I’ve noticed that darker honeys like buckwheat honey help bring a more “milky” flavor out. The tiniest pinch of salt can help, too. Also, if you want to go all out, you can get some agar or carrageenan and add a little to your soy milk. That’ll thicken it and give it a creamier mouth feel.
Again, good luck!
Daisy said,
September 9, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
What if someone doesn’t use a microwave? I use a counter top conven. oven however some people only use their stove tops. Any tips for cooking/ heating without the use of a microwave?
Rhett said,
September 10, 2007 @ 8:02 am
Daisy,
A microwave is definitely not necessary to produce soy milk, and I’m sorry for giving that impression. We use our microwave just because it’s a fast and energy-efficient way to heat things to near boiling. Essentially, the microwaving step is just to blanch the beans, so you can use any stovetop blanching process to get the same effect. You basically just boil some water and drop the beans in for a few minutes. I believe the magic number you’re trying to get the beans to is 180F, but virtually any basic blanching process will work.
When I was young, my family would blanch large crops of field peas in preparation for freezing, and this was done on the stove, so I know it’s not that fussy a process. I think my dad’s rule was “they’re done when they float”, but I could be mistaken.