A small round white porcelain bowl is filled with pale creamy soy milk made from dried soybeans, its smooth surface forming a circle inside the plain white bowl, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Soy milk, and yuba and bean-curd sticks made from it.
Soy milk is a drink made by grinding soaked soybeans with water, straining out the pulp and boiling it, served plain, sweetened, or as a savory bowl with vinegar and pickled vegetables. A stone slab from around the Eastern Han showing soy milk being made is an early known record, though its date is imprecise and the account is secondhand. The tofu entry of the Ming dynasty's Li Shizhen's Bencao Gangmu (1578) credits the tofu method to Liu An, King of Huainan in the Han, without mentioning soy milk. The tale of Liu An grinding soy milk has no historical support.
What
Soy milk is made by grinding soaked soybeans with water, straining out the pulp and boiling the liquid. It can be drunk plain or sweetened; in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area there is also a savory style with pickled mustard greens, dried shrimp, scallion, vinegar and chili oil.1,2
When
No dated original text devoted to soy milk was found; the slab and drinking history below are secondhand accounts, and the slab's date is imprecise. An early known record is a stone slab from around the Eastern Han showing soy milk making. The tofu entry of the Bencao Gangmu (1578) credits the tofu method to Liu An, King of Huainan, in the Han, without mentioning soy milk. A tofu broth is recorded around 1365 (Yuan dynasty), street vendors sold soy milk by the 18th century, and it was a breakfast drink with youtiao by the 19th.1,2,3
Where
It is made throughout China. The savory style is associated with the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area and is also a Shanghai-style brunch dish. Soy milk stalls appeared in Taiwan after 1949. No place of origin was identified.1,5
How
The beans are soaked for 3 to 8 hours or at least 3 hours, depending on the method, then ground with water, strained and boiled. Cooking times vary: 5 to 10 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, 20 minutes on the lowest heat, or 40 minutes of simmering after coming to a boil. Soy milk must be boiled fully and boils over easily.1,2,4,6
Why
No explanation of why people drink soy milk was found, and this entry does not guess. Plain soy milk is often paired with youtiao at a Chinese breakfast.1,2,4,6
Impact and influence
Soy milk stalls appeared in Taiwan after 1949, and the Shanghai-style savory bowl includes vinegar, pickled mustard stem and fried dough. No intangible heritage or time-honored-brand listing was found for the drink.1,5
The Tale of Liu An Grinding Soy Milk for His Mother
Legend has it that Liu An, King of Huainan in the Western Han, ground soaked soybeans into milk for his sick mother, and the drink then spread. This is a popular tale; Chinese Wikipedia says it has no historical support, and the Bencao Gangmu credits Liu An only with the tofu method.
Told in: A popular tale, recorded in Chinese Wikipedia, which says it has no historical support; the tofu entry of the Bencao Gangmu credits Liu An with tofu alone.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the plain soy milk I make at home, a simpler home version. The amounts are half of those in one published recipe by a named author; the order of grinding raw soaked beans, then straining, then boiling, and the 20 minutes on low heat follow the other recipe. The two differ on cooking time, since one simmers for 40 minutes, and I took the shorter. To judge whether it is done I taste it, and if it still tastes of raw beans I cook it a few minutes longer.
Ingredients
Dried soybeans about 140 g
Water about 1,400 ml (6 cups)
Salt a small pinch
Sugar to taste
Steps
Rinse the soybeans and soak them overnight in plenty of cold water, until they swell.
Drain the soaked beans and blend them in two batches with about 700 ml of water each time until smooth.
Strain through cheesecloth or a fine strainer, squeezing the pulp dry, and keep the liquid.
Pour the liquid into a large, deep pot and bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring from the bottom. When the foam climbs toward the rim, lower the heat at once. Soy milk boils over easily, so I stay by the stove the whole time.
Cook on the lowest heat for another 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Taste it, and if it still tastes of raw beans, cook it a few minutes longer. Soy milk must be boiled fully before it is drunk.
Stir in a small pinch of salt, add sugar if you want it sweet, and drink it hot.
Tips
The two recipes cook it for different times, 20 minutes on low heat in one and 40 minutes of simmering after it comes to a boil in the other. I take the shorter and always taste before drinking, which is my own way.
For a Shanghai-style savory bowl, one recipe by a named author puts black vinegar, pickled mustard stem, sesame oil, salt and white pepper in a bowl, with chili oil and dried shrimp if you like, pours in hot soy milk, lets it stand for a minute so it curdles, and tops it with scallion and fried dough. That version brings in sesame oil, dried shrimp and wheat-flour fried dough.
