history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

Connolly, who had long been selling piima starter in the USA
(La Mesa, California), made soymilk piima at home, using
a recipe for soymilk from The Book of Tofu by Shurtleff and
Aoyagi. She reported in a letter to Shurtleff (May 1979) that
soymilk turned into piima faster than dairy milk; soy piima
had a thicker and better consistency, and was liked by all
who tasted it. 1-2 tablespoons of piima per pint of soymilk
were incubated at 27ºC (80ºF). Thereafter she advertised
that her starter could be used to make good soymilk piima. A
discussion of soymilk piima and viili, and their commercial
production, was given in Tofu & Soymilk Production (1979)
by Shurtleff and Aoyagi, based largely on information
obtained from Pat Connolly.
The earliest known viili to come to the USA from
Finland arrived in about 1900 with the Kinnunen family, who
lived in Fort Bragg, northern California. It was popular in
the Finnish community there. It might have stayed isolated
in the community had not Gordon McBride, whose mother
was a Finn from that community, and Betty Stechmeyer,
started a small business named GEM Cultures in Fort Bragg
in July 1980. They started selling tempeh starter cultures,
but they soon added viili culture to their line of products.
In December 1980 they made the world’s fi rst batch of
soymilk viili, which they liked very much, although they
found that it was not stretchy, and it was easier to propagate
the starter on cow’s milk than on soymilk. Soymilk viili
has much less beany fl avor than the soymilk from which it
was made. The fi rst popular article on viili in the U.S. was
written by McBride and Stechmeyer for the Summer 1981
issue of Soyfoods magazine. In the article they called the
product “viilia” (as they had heard it called by local Finns),
the partitive case of the noun viili. Mention of soy viili next
appeared in the October 1981 issue of East West Journal
in an article by Rebecca Greenwood, and a third article by
Shurtleff in the Winter 1982 issue of Soyfoods pointed out
that the product was always called “viili” not “viilia” in the
literature.
Starting in early 1981, Shurtleff and Aoyagi did
extensive home research on soymilk viili and found it was
best if 2 teaspoons of honey and 4-8 drops of vanilla were
added to each quart of soymilk prior to incubation. By
early 1981 Hesseltine and Wang at the Northern Regional
Research Center were investigating both dairy and soymilk
viili, and planning to publish their fi ndings. There was an
interest in the formation of vitamins, reduction of beany
fl avors, and decrease of fl atulence-causing oligosaccharides
during fermentation, in the best microorganisms for soymilk
viili, and in how to increase or decrease stretchiness. Having
served dairy and soymilk viili to many friends, Shurtleff and
Aoyagi believe they have great potential in the U.S., perhaps
more than yogurt. Yet as of 1982 neither piima nor viili were
being made commercially in America. They deserve much
wider attention.
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 192
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
478. Product Name: Vege-Pro (Soymilk) [Coffee & Malt,
Blended Juices, Plain (Dairylike), or Lactic Fermented].
Manufacturer’s Name: Kibun Health Foods Co.
Manufacturer’s Address: Saitama-ken, Japan.
Date of Introduction: 1982. June.
Ingredients: Coffee: Water, soybean, corn syrup, malt
extract, corn oil, coffee extract, caramel (color), calcium
lactate, sucrose fatty acid ester, salt, artifi cial fl avor,
carrageenan. Blended Juices: Water, soybean, corn syrup,
orange, apple and pineapple juice from concentrate,
propylene glycol, citric acid, calcium lactate, carotene,
paprika, artifi cial fl avor.
Wt/Vol., Packaging, Price: 6.75 fl uid oz, 200 ml Tetra Brik
Aseptic carton.
How Stored: Refrigerated.
Nutrition: Per 6.75 fl oz.: Coffee: Calories 140, protein 4
gm, carbohydrate 20 gm, fat 5 gm. Blended Juices: Calories
110, protein 3 gm, carbohydrate 22 gm, fat 2 gm.
New Product–Documentation: Labels. 1984. 2.5 by 3.25
inches by 1.5 wide. Paper carton. Coffee: Red, black, yellow,
white on brown. Bird fl ying over coffee beans illustration.
Blended Juices: Red, green, black, white on yellow. Bird
fl ying over fruit illustration. Vegetable: Red, yellow, black,
white on green. Bird fl ying over trees illustration. “Vege-Pro
tastes so much richer than ordinary vegetable juice. Enjoy
this extra-refreshing blended vegetable drink that supplies
protein and vitamins. What a delicious way to treat yourself
to good nutrition everyday.” Tetra Brick packages, 3 color,
200 ml. Reprinted in Soyfoods Marketing. Lafayette, CA:
Soyfoods Center. “Vegetable protein drink.” Shurtleff &
Aoyagi. 1984. Soymilk Industry & Market. p. 33, 46.
479. Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko. 1982. Soyfoods
industry: directory and databook. 2nd ed. Lafayette,
California: Soyfoods Center. 56 p. June. 28 cm. [24 ref]
• Summary: A detailed study of the rapidly emerging
soyfoods industry and market. Contains original statistics
compiled by the Soyfoods Center through interviews with
companies. Contents: 1. Terminology: The many types of
soyfoods. I. Traditional low-technology soyfoods. 1A–
Nonfermented soyfoods: Fresh green soybeans, whole dry
soybeans, soynuts and soynut butter, soy sprouts, whole
soy fl our & grits, roasted soy fl our [kinako] & soy coffee,
soymilk and dairylike soymilk products, tofu (eight types),
okara or soy pulp, yuba.
1B–Fermented soyfoods: Tempeh, miso, soy sauce,
shoyu & tamari, natto & thua-nao, fermented tofu
& soymilk, soy nuggets [fermented black soybeans]
(Hamanatto & tou-ch’ih).
II. Modern soy protein foods: Defatted soy fl our, grits
& fl akes, soy protein concentrates, textured soy protein
products, soy protein isolates.
III. Soy oil products: Soy salad oil & cooking oil, soy oil
margarine & shortening, soy lecithin.