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Soy and legumes from Europe and the United States

Fermented soymilk (soy yogurt) — boundary

Fermented soymilk is soy milk soured by the same lactic bacteria used for dairy yogurt, often with a little sugar added. It sits at the boundary of the atlas, as a yogurt analogue and the newest of the soyfoods. Beans are soaked and ground, the milk is boiled, sweetened, heat-treated, cooled and held at about 37 °C until it sets at about pH 4.5.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes28 h – 2.2 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceLaboratory recipe of Liu et al. (2025) for soy yogurt from 1 kg of soybeans.
Soybeans1 kg[liu2025]
Water, for grinding1:8 with the dry beans (w/w)[liu2025]
Sucrose6 %[liu2025]
Yogurt starter (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus)2 % (v/v)A commercial direct-vat culture; one study added Weissella confusa as well[liu2025]
Starterdefined culture: dairy yogurt bacteria (L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus), sometimes Lactobacillus acidophilus

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 h – 2.2 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a bean

What changes: Soybeans soak in cold water overnight

Step 1 of 5
Soak the soybeans
Time
8–10 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
L. delbrueckii
S. thermophilus
Lactococcus lactis
Lactobacillus plantarum

Output: soaked beans.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Fermented soymilk is soy milk soured by the same lactic bacteria used for dairy yogurt, often with a little sugar added. It sits at the boundary of the atlas, as a yogurt analogue and the newest of the soyfoods. Beans are soaked and ground, the milk is boiled, sweetened, heat-treated, cooled and held at about 37 °C until it sets at about pH 4.5. Made in 5 steps over 28 h – 2.2 days. The longest step, chill to finish, takes 12–24 h (Liu M 2025) and runs at 4 °C (Liu M 2025). Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12–24 hReported[liu2025][li2026]Chill to finish
Temperature4 °CReported[liu2025][li2026]Chill to finish
AciditypH 4.5Reported[li2026]Add the yogurt culture and let it set

What makes this one different

This is a boundary entry. It copies dairy yogurt, with dairy cultures and added sugar, instead of growing its own tradition like furu or tempeh. Unlike tofu, the soy milk is set by the acid that bacteria make, not by a coagulant.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Acidophilus soymilk (United States, 1930s)Soy milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus; J.H. Kellogg used it therapeutically from 1933 and patented it in 1934 (Shurtleff and Aoyagi).
  • Soy kefir and soy cheeseOther dairy-style products from fermented soy milk; Shurtleff and Aoyagi give each its own history.

Safety

The soy milk is boiled and heat-treated before the culture goes in, and the yogurt is kept at 4 °C after it sets.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Shurtleff and Aoyagi call fermented soymilk the most recent traditional soyfood and the only one that began in the West. Li Yu-ying was granted British patents for lactic-fermented soymilk in 1910 and made it at his soy dairy near Paris.

  1. [SIC-fsm] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A. 2004, History of Fermented Soymilk and Its Products, SoyInfo Centerbook
  2. [liu2025] Liu M., Li X., Ye T., Zhao L., Zhang X. 2025, Safety evaluation of Weissella confusa SY628 and the effect of its fermentation on the taste and quality of soy yogurt, Frontiers in Microbiology 16:1567399paper
  3. [li2026] Li S., Fang Z., Yang X., Wu J., Fang X. 2026, Effects of Tremella fuciformis powder with varying particle sizes on the gel properties of soy yogurt, Foods 15(6):1000paper