Soy milk
beverage made from soybeans
Soy milk (or soymilk), also known as soya milk, is a plant-based milk produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein. Its original form is an intermediate product of the manufacture of tofu. Originating in China, it became a common beverage in Europe and North America in the latter half of the 20th century, especially as production techniques were developed to give it a taste and consistency more closely resembling that of dairy milk. Soy milk may be used as a substitute for dairy milk by individuals who are vegan or lactose-intolerant or have a milk allergy.
Soy milk is also used in making imitation dairy products such as soy yogurt, soy cream, soy kefir, and soy-based cheese analogues. It is also used as an ingredient for making milkshakes, pancakes, smoothies, bread, mayonnaise, and baked goods.
Names
In some parts of China, the term 豆浆 dòujiāng (lit. "bean broth") is used for the traditional watery liquid, used locally as a drink or broth, produced as an intermediate product in the production of tofu, while store-bought products that are designed to imitate the flavor and consistency of dairy milk (and may contain a mixture of dairy and soy) are more often known as 豆奶 dòunǎi ("bean milk").
Naming in the EU
In the European Union, "milk" by law refers exclusively to "the normal mammary secretion obtained from one or more milkings without either addition thereto or extraction therefrom".
“Soy milk” enters the record as beverage made from soybeans. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what milk, beverage and made can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Soy milk” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, milk, beverage and made provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q192199. The Library of Congress control number is sh85125893. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soy milk” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.