Many families find that after making soy milk with their soy milk makers, they often can't finish it all in one go, leading to waste. So, is there a way to make soy milk last longer? Let's take soy milk as an example and discuss how to store it at home for a week.
1. Prepare two airtight and heat-resistant containers, such as thermoses or very well-sealed insulated cups. The capacity of each container should be about the amount you drink at once. Thoroughly clean them and let them air dry completely.
If the soy milk is made by a soy milk maker, it will be freshly boiled and scalding hot. Therefore, to store it, you must use heat-resistant containers. At the same time, for sterilized food to be preserved long-term, you must ensure that no bacteria or oxygen can get in. Thus, after sealing the container, it must be airtight and watertight. High-quality thermoses (be sure to choose an odorless one; if it has a smell, it's a low-quality product that may release toxic substances when heated) can be screwed on tightly and are suitable for storing liquid foods like soup.
2. Place the soaked beans into the soy milk maker and boil some water. When the soy milk making process is almost complete, scald the containers like the thermos with boiling water. This heats up the inside of the container and also sterilizes it.
3. When the soy milk making process is complete, pour out the hot water from the thermos and immediately pour in the boiling hot soy milk, but do not fill it too full, leaving about a fifth of the container's capacity empty.
4. Place the lid on loosely, but do not tighten it, and leave it for about ten seconds. Then, screw the lid on as tightly as possible.
5. Let the soy milk cool naturally at room temperature. After it has cooled to room temperature, place it in the refrigerator. It can be stored for a week at 4°C.
6. Take out the stored soy milk, reheat it, and you can drink it anytime!
Why can soy milk be stored for a week without spoiling?
The container is scalded with boiling water, killing most of the bacteria; —Container Sterilization
The soy milk is also boiled, and at the boiling point, there are no living bacteria; —Content Sterilization
A sterile substance is poured into a sterilized container, which is then sealed. The remaining bacteria inside are killed by the residual heat, and once sealed, no outside bacteria can get in. —Aseptic Filling and Sealing
This method allows food to be stored for a relatively long time without spoiling. As for how long it can be stored, it depends on whether your operational details are standard and the degree of the container's seal. Because home operations are not as meticulous as in a lab, and the seal of a bottle is far less tight than that of a can, it cannot be stored at room temperature for two years like a can.
In a lab, using this method, I once stored red bean soup in a sealed test tube at room temperature for 1 year and 3 months. When I took it out, it was not spoiled at all. Of course, the operation was much stricter than at home. But even with this ordinary home method I've described, storing soy milk for one or two weeks is not difficult!