06 May 2008

making tofu

I bought gypsum for my ale making venture and googled it to see what culianry uses it may have other than making water hard for brewing purposes. It's also a coagulant that can be used for tofu (nigari is more common/traditional). Using Just Hungry's recipes for soy milk and then for tofu, I had even more success than I had expected. It came out very firm, much like the Japanese tofu that I'd get at the Rainbow Co-op bulk section when I lived in SF. (Lately I've been getting the "AFC" pressed bean curd at local Asian markets -- It's halfway between that and supermarket "firm" tofu).

It starts off with boiling puréed, soaked soy beans:


After twenty minutes, it gets strained and is soymilk!


That is heated back up to 175ºF, and the coagulant (gypsum or magnesium cloride [nigari]) is added. It sits for fifteen minutes. I then added a bit more gypsum for good measure. And it is strained:


It gets shaped (in that towel, just in a colander in this case), and voilà:

5 comments:

  1. totally cute. i am also, crazy impressed.

    fyi, i am now the bulk buyer for that tofu.

    xoxo
    grant

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  2. nice, how was the flavor? Nice global knife btw...

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  3. The flavor was mild and clean, perfect for tofu. Less grassy in flavor than the soymilk was, which is interesting. It also seems to keep quite well in water.

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  4. Hi,Joseph. Sorry for my bad English but I am italian and speak your language a little bit.
    I read a your comments on the site "chow". I understand that you know very well the bagel recipe because you work in a bakery. It's possible to know the real recipe? And it's necessary to use the baking soda in the water instead that malt syrup?

    Thanks.

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