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

The development of new soyfoods products does not
stop here. The FIRI team has two big projects on tap for
1996. The fi rst is to expand commercial production of
spreadable soy cream cheese, which will be made at existing
dairy plants in 10 provinces throughout Cuba (Santiago de
Cuba, Holguín, Bayamo, Las Tunas, Camagüey, Ciego de
Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Matanzas, and Pinar del
Rio) and to fi nish the spreadable soy cream cheese factory
in Havana with 10 tonnes/day capacity. At each plant they
hope to make 500 to 1,000 kg/day, and a total of 5,000
tonnes in 1996; this will require an additional 10 million
liters of soymilk. The second project is to make two types
of powdered soymilk. Type 1, which is spray dried, contains
85% soymilk and 15% dairy milk, plus cocoa, sugar, salt,
and vitamin A. Type 2, which is roller dried, resembles a
traditional Nestlé product called Harina Lacteada. The
ingredients are similar to type 1 except that rice is substituted
for cocoa. Cuban researchers are very interested in learning
more about Japanese amazaké (a traditional non-alcoholic
fermented rice beverage made from koji), about the various
new enzyme-hydrolyzed rice beverages made in America,
and about ways to mix soymilk with ricemilk. Cuba plans
to make a total of 2,000 tonnes of powdered soymilk in
1996. They are also working on development of spreadable
soybean pâtés with different fl avors, among them ham, and
chorizo (a paprika spiced Spanish-style pork sausage).
To summarize: In 1995 Cuba used 7,000 tonnes of
soybeans to make 47 million liters of soymilk; 1 kg of
soybeans yields about 7 kg of soymilk. Of this soymilk, 33
million liters were used for soy yogurt, 12 million liters for
soy ice cream, and 2 million liters for spreadable soy cream
cheese. In 1996 Cuba plans to use 76 million liters for soy
yogurt, 14 million liters for soy ice cream, and 10 million
liters for spreadable soy cream cheese. Total: 100 million
liters, or roughly twice as much. Continued. Address: 1. Ing.,
Director; 2. Vicedirector. Both: Food Research Inst. (Instituto
de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia), Carretera
Guatao Km 3½, La Lis 19200, Havana City, Cuba. Phone:
21-6986 or 21-6742.
1082. Garcia Uriarte, Alvaro; Ortega, Alberto. 1996. Recent
history of soyfoods in Cuba. Part V (Interview). SoyaScan
Notes. Jan. 9. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center.
• Summary: At this point we were invited for lunch at a
nice hotel on the Food Industry Research Institute (FIRI)
compound. There we were served various fl avors of three
dairylike soy products developed at FIRI. Our group of
two Cubans and three Americans was invited to taste each
product and offer our comments. (1) A set soy yogurt in cups
in six fl avors: Caramel, coconut, banana, orange, vanilla,
and strawberry. Caramel, the most widely distributed fl avor
in Cuba, comes, of course, from Cuba’s abundant sugar
supply. The soy yogurt’s acidity is 0.4 to 0.5 (half that of
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 413
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cow’s milk), and it contains 3.2% protein and 1.6% fat. By
comparison, dairy yogurt contains 3.0% protein and 3.4%
fat when made from whole milk, or 3.4% protein and 1.7%
fat when made from low-fat milk. This set soy yogurt is now
sold in all provincial capitals in Cuba.
The soy yogurt plant at Santiago de Cuba had an original
capacity of 2,000 liters/hour. The plant was briefl y shut down
to double its capacity to 4,000 liters/hour. During this period,
children in Santiago de Cuba were supplied with dairy
yogurt and this caused them to complain, as they objected to
the more acid fl avor.
(2) Soymilk ice cream (caramel fl avored). The
ingredients are soymilk, sugar, soy oil, caramel (for fl avor),
and a stabilizer. (3) Soy Cream Cheese. This is like the
traditional Cuban queso crema, with much the texture of
American Philadelphia cream cheese. Spread on crackers,
it is delicious. Our group of fi ve tasters gave each of these
three products excellent marks for fl avor, texture, and color.
Shurtleff (who has the most experience with soyfoods of
the fi ve) noted that this is the best soy yogurt he has tasted
anywhere, one of the best soy ice creams, and the fi rst
fermented soy cream cheese. Also served at this tasting
was queso blanco, which resembled the traditional nonfermented
white cheese but made from whole buffalo’s milk.
No soymilk was added. It was served in slices about ½ inch
thick and 4 inches square, to be enjoyed on toast or crackers.
This delicious product might also be made some day from
soy.
Alvaro says in summary that his team of researchers is
proud of three major achievements: (1) Making soymilk with
no beany fl avor; (2) Producing it at relatively low cost on
equipment designed and constructed in Cuba using middlelevel
technology; and (3) Making soymilk with a high
protein yield (The fi gure for protein yield is a top secret).
What are the big lessons to be learned from Cuba’s
bold and very successful experiments with soyfoods? (1)
Cuba is the world’s fi rst country (outside of the traditional
soy countries in East Asia) to fully grasp and realize the
potential of soyfoods, and specifi cally dairylike soy products.
Countries with high population densities in East Asia (such
as China, Indonesia, and Japan) have known for centuries
that it makes much more sense in terms of economics, land
use, the environment, and good health to get protein directly
from plants (specifi cally soybeans and cereal grains) than to
feed those plants to animals and then eat the animals. Since
the 1960s experts in the fi eld of Third World development
and food resources have stated repeatedly that soybeans are
the protein source of the future. Not only are they the world’s
lowest cost source of high-quality protein, but they are now
known to contain a host of benefi cial phytochemicals, not
found in any animal products, that appear to protect humans
from cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and many of the
unpleasant symptoms of menopause. Yet it took a major
crisis to prompt Cuba to make the switch. (2) Cuba switched