Products from soybean
"Soybeans are a versatile and nutritious crop that can be processed into a wide range of products for food, feed, and industrial uses. Get to know some common products made from soybeans. #pmgengineering #foodprocessing #foodindustry #foodtechnology #foodscience #engineering #science"
Soybean is one of the most versatile raw materials in food processing: a single bean stream can be routed into whole bean products, milk and curd lines, fermented foods and a set of recoverable by-products. Whole soybeans mature in the pod and ripen into a hard, dry bean, similar to other legumes. Edamame is made by boiling green soya in slightly salted water for 15 to 20 minutes. For soy milk, the beans are soaked, ground fine and strained to produce the fluid called soybean milk, and tofu is then prepared by curdling fresh, hot soymilk with a coagulant.
A second family of products comes from controlled fermentation. Soya sauce is a dark brown liquid made from soybeans that have undergone a fermenting process. Tempeh is whole soybeans mixed with another grain, fermented and pressed into a cake or bar. Miso is made by mixing cooked soybeans with koji and salt water and then fermenting for several months. Each of these routes places different demands on a plant — soaking and grinding, coagulation, or long fermentation holds — and the product mix a processor commits to determines the layout and the utilities the factory has to carry.
The by-product flow follows the main line: soybean to soy milk by grinding, soy milk to tofu by coagulation, and fermentation onward. Grinding and filtration leave okara, a pulp consisting of the insoluble parts of the soybean that remain after pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk and tofu. Coagulation leaves tofu whey, which is generated from both tofu and soy protein isolate production and contains a substantial amount of nutrients consisting of proteins. Soy whey derived from tofu can in turn be brewed sustainably into a soy alcoholic beverage that is easy to drink, low in calorie, high in antioxidants and sustainable.
For a processor, the value case sits as much in these side streams as in the primary product. Okara and tofu whey are produced in every soy milk and tofu operation, and designing their recovery in from the start — rather than treating them as effluent — is what turns a soy line into a full product portfolio.