Can I use fresh okara without cooking it?

Question

I started to experiment with home-made soy milk, which means that I have a lot of okara and I am looking for various ways of using it. I grind the soy beans before boiling the milk, so that the okara I get comes from the beans that have just soaked in water overnight and boiled for one or two minutes before grinding. Can I use such okara directly in spreads and other recipes without boiling it or steaming it? Can my body use the proteins and other nutrients?

Answer 1

Its been a while but I found this thread as I was wondering the same thing... Not much info on raw okara but I just googled raw soybeans....

"For human consumption, soybeans must be cooked with "wet" heat to destroy the trypsin inhibitors (serine protease inhibitors). Raw soybeans, including the immature green form, are toxic to humans, swine, chickens, and in fact, all monogastric animals."

From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean

Answer 2

Okara is not very appealing raw It should be cooked into something.

It is used in some foods but I have never heard of it being used raw.

Answer 3

If you made soy milk in a soy milk maker, the okara isn’t raw, it’s cooked. But if you made it in a blender before boiling the beans, and then cooked the milk on the stovetop, then the okara really needs to be cooked before eating.

Answer 4

From what I know, I suggest to cook it. Here are many examples of people being poisoned after drinking uncooked soybean milk. The toxin in raw soy milk may be trypsin inhibitors and saponin. Okara is part of soybean, it may contain the toxin.

Answer 5

I made my soy milk by soaking 1 cup of beans in hot water for a day and removing the translucent skin. I steamed the soaked soy bean and blended it in my vita mix with 7 cups of water.

Then I strained this and the okara was unbelievably delicious - like almond paste with no bitterness, but nutty and creamy. The milk turned out very delicious and creamy.

I am going to add it in my carrot tomato soup.