It's pretty easy to make your own delicious soymilk, and it's definitely cheaper than going out and buying it. Soymilk can be used in just about any recipe in place of milk. It's good on cereal, and it's even good to drink by itself. Homemade soymilk is a very good alternative to being dependent upon cow's milk.

What you will need:

• 1 lb. Dry Soybeans (=2 cups), give or take
• 1 gal. Water, give or take
• A Food Processor, Blender, or some other way to chop up the beans
• A couple big pots, and a smaller one or two
• Salt (Optional—I prefer sea salt)
• Maltose Sweetener (Optional—brown rice syrup works well)

Go through the beans and pick out any you wouldn't want to eat. Wash them off then soak them in water overnight. Make sure you use enough water. They will soak up quite a bit, swelling until they don't even look like soybeans anymore. In the morning, drain and rinse. Pour the beans into a big pot of water and bring them to a boil, stirring occasionally. Watch out when it foams up that it doesn't boil over. (This can happen quite suddenly. It's the result of some chemical reaction that takes place which also destorys an enzyme in the soybeans that prevents us from being able to digest them.) When the water is boiling take the pot off the stove and pour it out through a colander. Rinse the beans and then repeat this process twice more, bringing the beans to a boil and then pouring off the water. This helps make the soymilk taste less like the beanwater it really is.

Now begin heating most of your water. Leave enough out to use for grinding up the beans.

Put some of the boiled beans into your food processor along with some water and grind to a fine slurry. Pour off into another pot over low heat and repeat until all the beans have been ground. Your slurry shouldn't be too thick because now you are going to bring it to a boil, stirring it enough that it doesn't stick.

Rinse out your colander and line it with cheesecloth (I use two layers) and set it over another big pot. When the slurry is boiling pour it through the cheesecloth and the colander so that the soymilk runs off into the second big pot. From now on it works better if you tie up the cheesecloth into a sack (I tie up the inner layer, leaving the second layer to continue lining the colander). Pour the water you've been heating (which should be nearly boiling by now) over the grind a little at a time, pressing out the milk. It's very hot, so use a ladle or something. (I use a big rock.) When you are done, bring the soymilk to a final boil then simmer over low heat for twenty minutes. Skim off any foam that develops. Add a pinch of sea salt and sweeten to taste (I use about 1 c. brown rice syrup.) Pour your soymilk into warm quart jars, cap, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. The leftover grind is called okara and can be used in many recipes in place of meat, as well as in bread as a nutritious filler.

It takes a little while to make, but with a little experimentation the results are well worth the effort. Give it a try, and enjoy!