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Soya - natural production process
Two methods are used to process soy beans into tonyu.
The main differences between the two processing routes are related to starting materials and processing conditions. This results in soymilks with different nutritional compositions, especially with regard to their micro-nutrient level.
- Processing which uses whole soy beans, used by the members of ENSA.
- Processing which employs isolates of soy protein.
1. The natural production process used by members of ENSA - processing which uses whole soy beans
The members of ENSA use an exclusive production process that is 100% natural, making it possible to get non-dairy products from carefully selected whole soybeans (no soy isolates) without the use of GM (genetically modified) beans and GM material.
Soy milks produced from whole grains contain almost all of the natural micronutrients at their original level, more or less unchanged in the liquid extracted.
In the natural and traditional process, macro- and micronutrients are gently squeezed from the hydrated soybeans in one single stage at the same time.
The main processing steps are as follows:
- Removing the hulls from the soybeans
- Soaking the soybean cotyledons in water until they are soft enough for further processing
- Milling the hydrated soybeans with fresh water into a fine slurry
- Removing the insoluble ('okara') from the slurry and obtaining the base soymilk
- Adding the ingredients to complete the formulas
- Heat-treating the soymilk to ensure the correct shelf-life of the product (UHT process)
- Packaging
2. Processing which employs isolates of soy protein
The raw material for the production of soy protein isolates is made up of flakes of soy from which the fat has been removed using a solvent, whereas the raw material for soy milk made from whole beans is made up of soy bean cotyledons, in other words whole beans.
The process used to produce isolates of soy protein entails several protein purification stages at various pH levels, whereas the one used to produce soy milk from whole beans is based on the traditional method of direct dehydration.
Some of the phytonutrients, for example soy oligosaccharides (such as raffinose and stachyose), vitamin E, phytosterols, etc. are removed during the soy protein purification process. Indeed, in soy protein isolates, the proteins are more or less "isolated" from the other macro- and micronutrients during the purification process.
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