How Tofu is made Go behind the scenes and find out how tofu is made from start to finish. Not a tofu fan yet... you will be after this.

Tofu is made from high-quality protein, abundantly found in soybeans. It is extracted using the traditional technique, and then hardened (coagulated). Tofu is a healthy highly nutritious food that can be used in all types of dishes.

Soaking Soybeans

Soak soybeans in water to absorb plenty of liquid in order to make the extraction of protein from soybeans easier. This process is called "soaking." Soybeans are soaked in a tank filled with clean water, usually for 10 to 13 hours.

The soybeans which have absorbed plenty of water, weigh two to three times their original weight. Expanded and softened soybeans are easier to process.

Grinding Soybeans

The heated mashed soybeans are sifted through a fine net to remove solid matter, which consist mainly of fiber (bean-curd refuse called Okara) to extract the soybean milk. Though the density of soybean milk varies depending on the type of Tofu to be made, it is approximately 10 to 12 percent.

Soybean milk is delicious to drink as it is, and is high in nutrition. The
quality of the Tofu depends on the way this soybean milk turns out.

Calcium salt and other substances are mixed quickly into the soybean milk to allow it to coagulate into curd form. This occurs because ions such as calcium work to combine soybean protein with one another, and as a result the soybean milk coagulates into curd form.

The Tofu coagulated into curd is broken up and poured into a cloth-lined box. Excessive water is eliminated by pressing. Momen Tofu (regular Tofu) is thus made. Kinugoshi Tofu (soft Tofu) is made by coagulating slightly thicker soy milk without pressing down.

When pressing down, the pressure should be increased gradually so that the quality of the Tofu becomes consistent.

After pressing is finished, a large sheet of Tofu is automatically cut up into merchandise size and is packaged in containers.

Tofu cut into small sizes and packaged in a container filled with clean water is sealed thermally with film that has the product name, size, nutrition information, etc. printed on it. Each product is imprinted with an expiration date.

The sealed containers are completely air tight. The film used for sealing is printed with dark ink that prevents the adverse effects of light.

Thanks to House Foods for the above information