John Marshall: soy milk

JOHN MARSHALL:
works in fabric

Soy milk sizing is easy to make.

Preferred method: buy dry soy beans in bulk from the grocery or health food store. Place dry beans in bowl and cover with three to four times as much tap water by volume. Allow to fully swell.
In warm weather this will take three to four hours, in cold weather up to twelve hours. A good habit to get into is simply to put the beans on to soak before you go to bed at night for use the next day. In winter the soaking process may be sped up considerably by starting out with very warm tap water.

Once fully swollen drain off soak water and rinse briefly. Prepare sheet of cloth approximately 12" to 18" square by soaking in water. Sack cloth or a scrap from an old sheet works well. Wring cloth and drape over top of large bowl.

Next grind beans by placing them in blender with three to four times as much water. Blend on high or liquefy until beans are well ground, approximately two minutes. Pour mixture into cloth. Pull sides up and strain out all milky liquid. Take soy crumble from cloth and drop back into blender. Add more water and repeat process.

This may be repeated three or four times or until the liquid goes from a rich cream consistency (in the first straining) to a much thinner or non-fat-milk consistency.

Combine all batches in same bowl. The left over soy crumble may be tossed into the garden, or used as okara in Japanese cooking. Some Japanese artists insist on separating each batch: the first (creamiest) is used only for pigments; the second for sizing, and the third used to thin the first two as needed. This has never made any sense to me as all three batches come from the same beans and the same water. I prefer to combine all and use for whatever my needs are at the moment.

Test your soy milk by scooping up glass full and pouring back into bowl. How turbid is it? Ideally it should be about the consistency of whole or skim milk. For rugged fibers, such as cottons and linens, it should tend more toward the whole milk consistency, for sheer silks, more toward low fat milk in appearance.

One cup of dry beans will yield easily two cups of swollen beans. This will yield enough soy milk to easily size seven to eight yards of 45" width china silk. Never be afraid to make more than you think you will need.

For more in depth information regarding the full use of soy, including quicker methods of making the soy milk, see John's publication SALVATION THROUGH SOY.