Using Soy Milk

Have you noticed just how popular soy milk has become over the past few years? It seems like you can't really go to any grocery store (or even the corner market) without seeing more and more options of soy milk. This may have lead to a few questions in your mind about this newer type of dairy substitute, and the most common of those questions would be related to using soy milk. There are several different ways that you can use soy milk, most of which are very closely related to using dairy milk. That being said, by knowing the proper method and way for using soy milk you can avoid some potentially problematic situations.

• Experiment. The first thing that you will need to do when thinking about using soy milk is experiment a little. This basically means that you will need to try out the various different types of soy milk that are available, and which ones will work the best for you. There are generally speaking, three different flavors, and then a couple of different variants of those flavors. The most common flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and regular (though a couple of different brands do offer some almond flavored soy milk), and the variants are typically vitamin fortified and those without the extra fortification.
• Substitute. Not all types of soy milk will work well when substituting it for dairy milk in recipes. For a vast majority of recipes you will want to use the plain, unsweetened types of soy milk for your recipes. This will help prevent any additional sugar or sweeteners from getting into your dishes which could throw off the results that you wanted. One thing that you may want to keep in mind is that all soy milk is dyed, so this can definitely have an effect on the look of your dishes, so be prepared.
• Use it for cereal. Soy milk is perfectly suitable for using on cereal, hot cereal, oatmeal, or other similar dishes. However, the unsweetened soy milk often has a strange taste associated with it. this means that if you will be eating a lot cereal you may want to use one of the flavored soy milk, and basically stick to either vanilla or almond flavors if you can find them. Otherwise, you may need to end up adding a bit of sugar, which could negate some of the health benefits that come with soy milk.
• Storage isn't all that difficult. Often soy milk is packaged so that you can store it on a shelf. What this means is that it is perfect for food storage situations, and can actually last for five months as long as it hasn't been opened. That being said, if you do open it, it needs to be refrigerated, and if you find the soy milk in the refrigerated dairy section you will want to continue to refrigerate it.