Macro Milkshakes for the Too Yang Blues? by Roy Collins
It may sound like a contradiction in macrobiotic thought, but this new product idea does not utilize animal milk as an ingredient. The “milk” is instead derived from cultured soy beans, along with fermented brown rice (amasake) then blended with cooked whole fruits and sweetened with brown rice syrup and/or barley malt to taste.
The resulting beverage approximates the taste of Russian kefir – a traditional tart dairy drink that is thick in texture. Because this cultured beverage is incubated in a similar way to kefir or yogurt and uses some of the same live bacteria strains (plus a few others), the “macro milkshake” approximates some of cultured dairy’s more positive health claims, namely increased enzymatic action, an enhanced calcium and protein profile, and as a digestive aid (due to action of probiotics on microflora in the intestine). But unlike cultured dairy products, the “macro milkshake” is grain/bean based and is cholesterol free!
For over 120 years soy foods have been scrutinized from every angle by the scientific community with claims that the isoflavones in soy provide antioxidants help improve blood pressure, increase the immune response and regulate estrogen and glucose levels, while protecting the body from many digestion-related cancers. Moreover the protein content in soybeans was found to be even higher than beef. An enzyme-like component in soy has also been found to be the only plant-based food to inhibit the growth of vessels from tumors (anti-angiogenesis) in the body – a claim once held only by shark and bovine cartilage.
More recent studies of soy products show that the biologically active isoflavones, Genistein and Daidzen are substantially increased when soy is allowed to ferment -- making it more absorbable than regular soy. Fermented soy products were also found to have a greater amount of other nutrients such as beta glucan, glutathione and B-vitamins. All this equates to not only a broader nutrient profile and enables the digestive process but absorb higher amounts of energy-dense nutrients. This is certainly excellent news for those whose microflora has been damaged from the overuse of antibiotics, fast foods, chemotherapy, and restrictive diets. Also a plus for menopausal women who are seeking to replace depleted estrogen and calcium from the natural aging process.
While the “macro milkshake” may sound very similar to keifer or a fresh fruit smoothie, it differs on two important points. First is that the Macro Milkshake is totally dairy-free. Next, the Macro Milkshake uses cooked fruit, brown rice and soy beans and is served warm so that it acts to improve digestion. The grinding action of the soymilk machine utilizes nearly the whole soybean leaving only a small amount of bulk (okara) in the screen catch.
The Procedure: Culturing soy milk is a simple process but an 8-hour waiting period is required for incubation. A soymilk machine is indispensable for making fresh soy milk.
Miracle Exclusives offers two models for sale at The Store @ CyberMacro that are sturdy and dependable and the process takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Whole soybeans are soaked: @ ¾ cup dry organic beans in 3 cups of warm water for 10 hours. The beans are then drained and placed in the soy- milk machine with 2 quarts of warm water @ 80 degrees F and the switch turned on. Once complete the soymilk is allowed to sit for 5 minutes and then mixed. *Notes 1&2.
The temperature of the soymilk must come down to 110 degree F before incubating. A candy thermometer can be used to determine this. 4 cups of the warm soymilk is then placed in a pre-warmed yogurt maker, also for sale at The Store @ CyberMacro, (the type from heavy glass is best) of either dry yogurt culture or fresh, powdered Acidophilus (@ 1 tablespoon) covered and allowed to incubate undisturbed for @ 5 hours (ph strips are a helpful aid to test this). Once the pH of the soymilk reaches around 4.0 and it can be then be shut off. Once shut off you need to add 1 tablespoon of Xanthan Gum -- a polysaccharide fungus that is found on corn, beets and cabbage (most health food stores have this). The mixture is then gently blended by hand and afterwards placed in an electric blender (the heavy glass containers work best) and blended again at high speed until smooth. The Xanthan gum works like a foaming agent and gives the cultured soy the milkshake like texture! *Note 3.
Additional Ingredients: While developing a taste for the somewhat tart, plain “macro milkshake” may take a bit of time, it is actually to one’s benefit to sweeten it with plain amasake that has been heated for 5 minutes with fresh or dried fruits and a small amount of brown rice syrup. This increases the enzyme content of the product and helps in the digestive process. The resulting “puree” can be added according to the individual’s own taste and mixed by hand into the milkshake.*Note 4. The puree can be kept in a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. The same goes for the blended, cultured soymilk.
NOTE 1: As you will be using only half of the fresh soymilk to make the “macro milkshake” you will @ 1 quart of soymilk left over. This soymilk can be easily made into a delicious soft tofu by mixing it with @ ¾ teaspoon of Nigari, for sale at The Store @ CyberMacro , (mixed in ¼ cup of water). Stir lightly and let sit for 15 minutes. Pour this mixture through a strainer lined with a folded, double layer of cheesecloth. Allow to drain for ½ hour. Squeeze out excess water and place the tofu in a covered container. Refrigerate.
NOTE 2: You can also make oat milk by the same process but need to soak 1 ¼ cups of whole oats for 10 hours in 3 cups of warm water. After the oat milk is made you end up with about of 1 cup of cooked, whole oatmeal in the machine’s screen catch!
NOTE 3: A reliable source said that soy “cheese” can be made from the cultured soy milk once it is completed. To do this it is advisable to add a small amount of  sea salt to the cultured soymilk and then pour the milk through a strainer lined with a double layer of folded cheese cloth. This bundle is then tied into a ball with a piece of twine and hung to the faucet and allowed to drip into the kitchen sink. I have not tried this process and therefore am not sure of the curing time needed before refrigerating.
NOTE 4: For those who wish a higher calcium content of the product sesame butter can be included in the mixture – use the proportion of ½ Tablespoon to each cup of the finished “milkshake.” Flavored, liquid calcium citrate can also be purchased in a health shop and added as well if you want to go this route. Follow the recommended amounts on the label of the bottle.
Recipes: Over the past few months I worked on a number of different recipes for flavoring the milkshakes in hope that I would be able to eventually market the product so that I could possibly make a living by selling it. This hope was soon dashed when I found that I was required to pasteurize the beverages first and then find a certified bottler to package the drinks. Of course pasteurizing requires high heat which will destroy the live cultures and paying someone else to do the bottling was not in my budget. So I decided to freely share my finds with anyone who might be interested in utilizing the information.
The basic idea for the flavored purees is to make a sweet, slightly thick slurry that will yield @ 3 cups. These 3 cups should (technically) flavor about 12 one-cup “milkshakes.”
The finished puree can be refrigerated for up to 10 days. The following 10 flavors were the most highly rated after being taste-tested by friends, neighbors, and macrobiotic peers. They are examples only and I’m sure you can make your own modifications for personal taste. I hope that you can take the opportunity to try some of them and let me know how you like them and/or if you notice any difference in your health because of them. For the most part they can be used by most people but those with high estrogen levels and/or those with yeast or soy problems are advised to avoid them.
Blueberry Cobbler:
1 cup purple grape juice
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 ½ ripe bananas
1 cup amasake*Note 5
3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Carob Malt:
3 Tablespoons unsweetened carob powder
1 cup amasake
¼ cup raisins
2/3 cup barley malt syrup mixed with 1/3 cup hot water
½ cup chopped, pitted dates
½ teaspoon natural almond extract
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Cherry Cola:
2 cups cherry juice
1 tablespoon sarsaparilla root
1 Tablespoon Sassafras root
1 Tablespoon Black Birch Bark
2 Tablespoon Brown Rice Syrup
½ cup pitted, chopped dates
6 oz. fresh or frozen pitted cherries
pinch of sea salt
Add sarsaparilla, sassafras, and black birch to cherry juice and simmer
for 10 minutes. Then strain and discard the herbs, reserving the juice only.
Add the remaining ingredients to the juice and simmer together for additional 5 minutes. Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Ginger Snap:
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (minus the seeds)
1 cup diced, fresh pineapple
1 ½ Tablesppons finely grated, fresh ginger root
½ cup pitted, chopped dates
1 cup amasake
sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Banilla Custard:
1 ½ Tablespoons of Tapioca (ground)
1 Tablespoon Brown Rice Syrup
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 ½ bananas, chopped
1 ½ Teaspoons Natural Vanilla Extract
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Lemon Merangue:
2 Tablespoons Tapioca (ground)
1 cup white grape juice
½ cup pitted, chopped dates
1 cup amasake
juice from two lemons
1 Teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 Teaspoon Natural lemon oil
1 Teasponn Vanilla extract
3 Tablespons Brown Rice Syrup
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Ki Lime:
3 Kiwi fruits, peeled, diced
juice from 3 limes (minus seeds)
½ cup pitted, diced dates
3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup
2 ½ Tablespoons Tapioca (ground)
1 cup amasake
1 cup white grape juice
¼ cup raisins
1 banana, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon oil
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Peach Melba:
1 ½ cups diced fresh peaches
½ cup cantaloupe chopped
1 cup amasake
3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup
1 Teaspoon Powdered Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Tumeric powder
½ cup pitted, chopped dates
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Mango Bango:
2 medium, peeled mangos, diced
½ cup honeydew melon, diced
1 ½ cups Pineapple juice
3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup
1 cup amasake
½ cup diced pineapple
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
Dutch Apple:
3 ripe Apples
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup raisins
2 cups unfiltered apple juice
1 tablespoon Agar flakes
3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Syrup
1 cup Amasake
pinch of sea salt
Heat together all ingredients on low flame for 5 minutes and blend.
Add approx ¼ cup of this mixture to each one cup of blended cultured soy.
Refrigerate remainder of puree in a covered jar.
How about Pear Crunch (pears, crushed almonds, tahini, dates…? Maple Vanilla? Indian Pudding? Date-nut? I’m sure you can think of some creative recipes for macro milkshakes as well.
To say that the macro milkshakes are very yin would be a fair assessment, but the particular quality of this beverage proves to have more advantages than disadvantages -- especially for the middle-aged and up. One must always take into consideration that it is better to eat a wide variety of foods and that too much of one type of food can lead to serious problems. People with high estrogen levels or with allergies to yeasts may want to avoid using“macro milkshakes” on a regular basis. Best to think of macro milkshakes as a natural supplement or a dessert alternative. Freezing it would defeat its purpose by stopping the enzyme action and kill the beneficial live cultures.
NOTE 5: You can make your home made amasake in a yogurt maker if you prefer this over the commercial brands. Simply cook 1 ½ cups of Sweet Brown Rice with 4 ½ cups of water. Bring to a boil then simmer and cover for 40 minutes. Let cool to 110 degrees F (use candy thermometer). Mix in ¾ cups koji yeasted rice, for sale at The Store @ CyberMacro, and place in pre-warmed yogurt maker. Allow to incubate for 8 – 10 hours. Add the amasake mixture to a pot with 1 cup of water and a pinch of sea salt and simmer low for 10 minutes. This can then be blended and stored in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. It may get too sour to use if you keep it any longer.
NOTE 6: A very healthy beverage that is similar to the “idea” of commercial energy drinks can be made by combining equal parts of amasake with freshly squeezed carrot juice. A little powdered barley grass (1 teaspoon) and ¼ teaspoon of blue/green algae will help provide vitamin B-12.
Some hardcore macrobiotics may scoff at the idea of using electric devices to prepare their food. All of the above recipes and procedures can be achieved without the use of electric devices. Soybean milk can be made by first soaking then grinding and heating the mash in water. You would have to experiment with the water quantity and cooking time. The final liquid would then have to be strained through a sack. This milk can then be inoculated with yogurt culture or powdered acidophilus (experiment with quantities and ratios) then placed in a covered container and set over the pilot light on top of a gas stove until it achieves a tart taste (exact time unknown). Amasake can also be hand made and set on the stove to incubate as well. A Foley Food Mill can be used to hand blend the additional ingredients together. The main drawback here is that everything takes a lot more time and the milkshake texture will never be found.
I would appreciate any type of feedback anyone has regarding this new product idea. I have not been paid to endorse any of the products mentioned herein nor have I ventured to compare the products and utensil I used with other products that may be available. If there is a way of improving this product or adapting it for other applications please share this information with our readers.
In peace, Roy Collins
Author of Fire Over Heaven.
On the Origin, interpretations, and
Evolution of the Yin/Yang Dialectic and I Ching Details Here
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:? :cry 
:x cool me mother likes it :x 
