The history of Tofu

Traditional Tofu-rumours report that soy milk was used at the court of the Chinese emperors long before they used Tofu. One day, although the emperor himself was a very enthusiastic chef, he left a kitchen aid in charge of the fresh, steaming hot white broth. Unfortunately the aid dropped some sea-salt into the soy milk. This caused the protein in the milk to curdle, resulting in whey with Tofu flakes swimming around like white clouds. After the emperor had calmed down, the curds were scooped out and pressed.

That was the birth of Tofu!

Over the years small, middle-class Tofu manufacturers established themselves in all Asiatic countries and produced the best possible fresh Tofu to meet the demands of the local market. Up to today and worldwide the traditional art of making Tofu has remained an ideal decentralised, regional production method, at the same time preserving the local resources to the advantage of the local population.

Tofu has been available in America since the establishment of Chinatown, but it has only become well-known since the birth of the natural food movement. Later on this movement reached Germany via England and the Netherlands. Since the publication of  The Book of Tofu by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi in the mid 70 s Tofu has received more and more attention.

Tofu Production guarantees a high Yield

Whereas you have to feed 7 to 10 kgs of soy beans to produce about 1 kg of meat, for 1 kg of Tofu only 1, 3 kg of soy beans are needed.

At the same time there are a number of by-products, namely the soy bran (Okara), which is the press-residue of the milk and the whey, which remains when the Tofu itself is pressed. The raw fibres and other elements of the soy bean, which can cause flatulence, are separated during the production of Tofu and are therefore no longer harmful. This is the reason, that having cooked whole soy beans for a sufficiently long time, only 70% can be digested, whereas more than 90% of Tofu is digestible. On top of that far less energy is used for the cooking process.

Storing Tofu

You can either use Tofu on the same day, or covered with cling film it will keep for up to 8 days in the fridge.

Freezing Tofu

Tofu can also be frozen. It can then be kept fresh for a number of months. Tofu does, however, turn a little brown when being frozen, this however disappears with de-frosting. The structure of the Tofu is somewhat altered by freezing and it becomes more porous.

De-frost the Tofu either at room temperature or in luke warm water.