Soyabella Soy Milk Maker : FirstLook

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Soy milk is delicious, but making it can be a chore – a long, time consuming, slightly messy chore.

Buying prepared soy milk is much simpler, but the cost can be startling.

D@mned if you don’t, d@mned if you don’t, right?

Well, RainyDayKitchen has just “discovered” the Soyabella from Tribest Life that lets all of us who want to make soy and nut milks do it simply, easily, and quickly.

The Soyabella Soymilk and Nut Milk Maker makes making fresh soymilk, raw nut milks, and a variety of other delicious recipes in the RainyDayKitchen a snap.

No more soaking soy beans in cold water, grinding them into a paste, “processing” the paste with hours of simmering and skimming, all the while making sure nothing boils over.

Tribest Life Soyabella SB 130-B Soy and Nut Milk Maker

• Water Capacity: 0.8–1.3L (~ 1 quart)
• Soybean Consumption: 50–70g (~ 1/3 cup)
• Accessories: Two stainless steel screens, one measuring cup, one blade stand
• Motor Power: 220 Watt, 120V
• Weight: 5.4 lbs (2.45kg)

 

The Soyabella soy milk process is simple:

1. add a measured amount of soaked soy beans to the wire mesh basket;
2. secure the basket to the top;
3. add water to the bottom;
4. secure the top to the bottom;
5. press “Milk;”
6. practice patience for approximately 20 minutes, at which time a beep to let you know the soy milk is ready, warm from the Soyabella

Soaked, dry soybeans need to be cooked prior to soy milk making. The “Milk” button both heats and grinds the beans. The entire process takes place, unaided, in the Soyabella pitcher. Cool beans! Or hot beans, actually.

For nut milks, it is even easier/quicker: add your nut(s) to the basket, add water to the Soyabella, press “Mill” a few times, and you’ve got raw nut milk in as quick as 30 seconds.

Soy Milk: The Making Thereof

The RainyDayKitchen folks were surprised at how few beans are actually required to make a quart of soy milk.

NOTE: When the instructions say “a cup of” whatever, the instructions are not referring to an actual, standard measuring-cup cup. No, the instructions are referring to the little cup that comes with the Soyabella.

The cooking takes place IN the Soyabella. On a timer. That you don’t even need to set. The soaked soybeans get blended/broken down/pulverized by the very sharp, un-removable blades permanently attached to the top of the Soyabella. One more thing you don’t need to do. Awesome!

The blades need to be nestled into the the beans, and that can be a little tricky because the beans are softer, not soft. There’s a little bit of, uh, woodgeing, required to fit it properly. The mesh basket must be securely twisted to the top; there is a locking mechanism—a nub on the mesh basket fits into an indentation on the top—and it takes a couple of tries to understand that no, it’s not this nub on the container, it’s that nub. But it secures very securely, so if it doesn’t feel absolutely secure, it’s not secure.

There are two water level markers on the inside of the Soyabella; they’re in a slightly odd place—right in front of the handle, which you are holding when filling the Soyabella with water. Soyabella provides these markers to allow you some customization of your milk while ensuring that the mesh container remains properly submerged.

Secure the top to the bottom, plug the Soyabella in, press the “Milk” button, and go do something else until it beeps at you. Done!

We have found that unadulterated soy milk is, as they say, somewhat “beans,” and so we add a little salt and a little maple syrup to the completed product. There are a few milk “recipes” in the booklet that will get you started on creating a flavor profile to your liking.

Nut Milk: The Making Thereon

Apparently you can make “milk” out of anything. Almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, oats. None of these ingredients require cooking, though, so the Soyabella has a second button, Mill, for the non-heated operation.

Soaking nuts is not strictly necessary, but it is recommended: the softer the item, the more flavorful the result. We’ve tried it both ways with almonds and the difference wasn’t noticeable. What was noticeable was the difference between using whole, skin-on, almonds, and (less expensive) broken pieces: the whole nut was superior (but the pieced version was still tasty).

Nut milks are made by milling the nuts. The Mill function does what it does for about 10 seconds and then stops. The more times you press Mill the more you get out of the nut. Soyabella recommends three times, but we’ve been doing five times, because we’re like that and day-yam if we aren’t going to wrest every single smidgeon of taste out of our pricey ingredients.

But wow how cool is it to have nut milk in 60 seconds? That’s like a minute!

The Particulars

The Soyabella features advanced safety features for safe and reliable operation:

• Milk function activates the heating element and grinding blade for soy milk, soups, and porridges.
• Mill function activates the grinding blade only for grinding dry ingredients or making healthy nut milks.

• The heating element is concealed for both safety and ease of cleaning.
• The internal parts that come into contact with the milk are all metal.
• The Soyabella is compact and will fit into any kitchen decor. It looks a little bit like the coffee percolators of yore, which is not a bad thing.

The nice thing about either type of milk is that the leftover material—okara from the soy beans and pulp from the nuts—are neatly contained in their respective wire mesh baskets, to be used in other recipes!

Raw nut milk in seconds and fresh soy milk in just twenty minutes…amazing! While there are concerns about too much soy in one’s diet, we find that substituting soy milks for dairy milk is our preference.

The Soyabella lets us control what—and how much—is in the soy milk we consume. We like that. And we like the Soyabella!

Links to items mentioned:

• TribestLife Soyabella Soymilk and nut milk Maker