soymilk maker!

After the September staff meeting at the store, I had the opportunity to purchase a Soyabella soymilk maker (at cost) -- and I did! Wahoo! Why buy a soymilk maker? For starters, I'll save a ton of money over time. The maker is expensive, (over one hundred dollars retail,) but when you consider a half gallon of soymilk is at least four dollars, the maker will pay for itself in not too much time because bulk soybeans are so dang cheap. Also, other reasons include: soybeans weigh a lot less than a carton of soymilk when transporting groceries home from the store, I have an easy time finding locally grown soybeans, and homemade soymilk calls for zero packaging, minimal processing, fewer ingredients, and has a very fresh taste.

I finally unpacked my soymilk maker this weekend:

That's a lot of parts! (And that's not even including the cord, instruction book, or cleaning utensils!) However, when I learned that most of these extra parts are for different applications (like rice paste and coffee grinding,) I packed most of them away and kept out only what I needed.

How to make soymilk? Easy.

1. Use the scoop to measure 1 scoop of soybeans. Rinse the beans and soak them for 4 to 6 hours.
2. Place the soybeans in the metal cup, attach it to the top of the machine, fill the machine with water to the line, and press the "milk" button.
3. Wait 15 minutes.
4. The soymilk is done! (Pardon the blurry picture.) Add sugar, salt, and vanilla, per the recipe included, or to taste.

5. Clean all of the parts thoroughly. (This was honestly the hardest part of soymilk making -- the pieces need to be cleaned right away so they don't get gunky.)

I really like their recipe for vanilla soymilk, although I may cut back on the sugar a little bit. Dan said the soymilk tasted like a thin vanilla milkshake -- which I'll take as a positive review. :)

ALSO, I can use my soymilk maker to make nutmilks -- almond milk and hazelnut milk, here I come!

Anybody else have a soymilk maker? What have your experiences been?