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

Canada and Plenty USA sent Farm Soy Dairy technicians
Laurie Sythe Praskin, Suzy Viavant and Richard Decker to
Guatemala to help establish Plenty’s fi rst international soy
dairy/tofu shop. Other technicians who trained on the Farm
have gone on to help start soy programs with Plenty Canada
in Lesotho (in Southern Africa, 1979-present), Jamaica
(1983-present), St. Lucia (1983-present), and Dominica
(1984-present).
“Many of the people who lived on The Farm and trained
in the Soy Dairy or with Farm Foods have started their own
soy companies or are working in underdeveloped countries.
The common goal felt by all has been to provide healthful,
delicious foods for all people, rich and poor alike. Because
soybean products can be presented as gourmet dishes,
yet can also be prepared very simply, they continue to be
accepted by all classes of people.” Continued. Address:
17969 Oak Dr., Los Gatos, California 95030.
589. Praskin, Laurie Sythe. 1985. The Farm soy history: An
overview. Document part III. Los Gatos, California. 10 p.
Dec. 1. Unpublished manuscript. [Eng]
• Summary: “The Farm soy dairy was started in 1972. The
original equipment consisted of a 15 gallon electric coffee
pot to cook the [soy] milk, a washing machine [whose spin
cycle was used] to extract the milk from the okara, and a
peanut grinder to grind the dry soybeans into fi ne grits.
The dry soy grits were added to the boiling water, cooked,
and then poured into a bag that was placed in the washing
machine. As the washing machine spun, the milk was
extracted by the bag by centrifugal force. The soymilk was
distributed immediately in glass gallon jars, as there was no
refrigeration system available. The capacity of this operation
was around 20 gallons a day at this time, the soy dairy was
located in the sorghum mill, a split-level, cement block
building with concrete fl oors.
“In 1973, a Farm member’s parents donated some used
dairy equipment that they had used on their goat farm. The
soy dairy made its fi rst technological leap. Included in the
equipment was a 45 gal. electric pasteurizer/cooker, a drip
system plate cooler, and a 90 gal. refrigerated milk tank. The
washing machine was too ineffi cient and unsanitary, and
a simple hand-lever press was constructed, modeled after
a Japanese-style press observed by Lesli Jordan in 1973.
Lesli apprenticed for one week in a small Stockton Tofu
company where she compiled information on procedures
for making tofu and age pouches and also took photographs.
When she returned to the Farm, her husband Darryl built the
soy dairy’s fi rst tofu box. The new presses were made from
two galvanized wash tubs with holes on the bottom. These
were placed on a strong wooden stand and lined with a light
cotton cloth bag. Wooden racks were placed on the bottom
to keep the bag of the hole, allowing the milk to fl ow from
the tubs freely. The milk was pumped into the bags from the
cooker. The fi ltered milk fl owed into buckets, which were
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 227
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then carried and poured into the small holding tank of the
plate cooler. The slightly cooled milk was then carried by
bucket to the refrigerated milk tank, where it was cooled to
30 degrees Fahrenheit and stored until delivery to the store.
The milk was transported in 10 gal stainless steel milk cans
to the store where it was distributed. The okara in the bags
was pressed to extract all of the milk using a lever system
come-along. At this time, the beans were being ground into
dry grits at the Farm Flour mill. The capacity of the soy
dairy was now 90 gallons of soymeal [not defatted] a day.
Occasionally, large blocks of sour milk cheese were made,
and 12 to 16 gallons of acidophilus yogurt were made daily.
The yogurt was made in one gallon glass jars, incubated in
an old refrigerator, and stored in a conventional refrigerator.
Tempeh was also being experimented with, using the okara
left over from soymilk production. Soy ice cream was being
made on a very small scale, using two table top ice cream
machines with one quart capacity. Alexander Lyon was
still managing the soy dairy. By this time, the Farm was no
longer producing sorghum, and the soy dairy had taken over
two levels of the three level building. Only cold water was
available, so pots of water were carried to the second fl oor,
where they were heated on a stove to be used for cleanup.
During the cold winters, a pot belly stove was added to the
array of equipment and centered right in the middle of the
production room.
“Early in 1975, Alexander left the soy dairy and Laurie
Sythe Praskin took over managing production. David Handel
and Warren Jefferson stepped in as full-time equipment
men to help improve the operation and increase production.
Laurie began doing research on how to improve the fl avor of
the milk, which was very cereal-tasting because of the dry
grits. She and David added an industrial Hobart meat grinder
to the system and began soaking their beans and grinding
them fresh each day. The beans were initially soaked in
a bath tub and later in one of the copper lined sorghum
tubs. The tub was placed on the second level, so the beans
could gravity feed into the grinder. The fl avor was greatly
improved, but the grinding was very slow and the grind was
not very fi ne.
“They began working on new ideas for a press that could
omit the bag and muscle needed to press with the comealong.
David devised a system using an upside-down bumper
jack mounted over a stainless tank. Inside the tank was a
stainless cylinder with holes drilled in the bottom and sides.
The milk was pumped or bucketed into the inner cylinder
and fl owed out the holes when vibrated. The cylinder was
vibrated with a rubber mallet. A stainless press plate was
placed on top and jacked down to press out all the milk. This
system was slow and the okara had to be shoveled out after
each batch.
“In late 1975, it was decided to move the soy dairy to
The Farm’s cannery building so that it would be in a more
central location to the Farm’s growing population and to