Travis and I spotted a neat way to turn cow’s milk into cheese on Kiwi Co’s website, by adding an acid (lemon juice) which makes the proteins clump up (the curds) out of the leftover liquid (the whey). All thoughts of Little Miss Muffet aside, we wondered if we could make this work with soy milk!

To start, place 1 and 1/2 cups soy milk in a pot over medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the soy milk is frothy and hot, but do not let it boil. Immediately remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Travis and I were thrilled to see it seize up immediately, like tiny flecks of crumbled tofu.

We strained the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl, resulting in a small bowl of fresh soy “cheese” left behind in the sieve. We added a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of agave nectar, and did a curious taste test.

Travis’s expression pretty much says it all; he declared this simultaneously “good but weird”. I don’t recommend this over purchasing tofu at the store, but it was a neat chemistry experiment!