Connie of Smockity Frocks and I have decided to do a link-up. Every Tuesday we will have a demonstration, either with videos or with pictures (mine will probably be pictures for a while.) We will be doing this every Tuesday. So in a way you get two for the price of one!

I’ve been making tofu off and on for over a year, so I think I’m an expert by now. Well, not really.  There are still a couple of things I can’t figure out. I’ll mention them below. But in any case, for those who might be interested in what goes into making tofu, here it goes.

I start with 3 quarts of soy milk. I make it in this machine:

I never use the amount of beans they say to use. They say to use 1/2 cup of beans for one batch (using about 6 cups of water). This makes the milk too week. I use 3/4 cup of beans and it makes them just fine.

Then I strain it out with a cloth (the glove was because the milk had been in the fridge and was, well, frigid):

Doesn’t it look nice?

Then I heat it up to between 150° and 180°:

When it gets into that range (preferably not the higher end of the range), I get 1 cup of hot water and mix in my coagulant. I use 1/2 tsp of nigari and 1 tsp of calcium sulfate:

Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the next step, but it’s pretty self explanatory. I pour the coagulant into the milk while stirring it. While it sets, I set up my press. I don’t like this press, but it’s all I’ve got. I want a tall one that will take all the mixture into it at once, so I don’t have to strain out so much liquid. You’ll see what I mean. Anyway, the press:

And a few minutes later, it’s ready to mold:

Now it’s time to strain out the “whey” (think of curds and whey); I use a fine mesh strainer, because the liquid drains too slowly out of the cloth:

Unpressed tofu:

Soy whey. I usually save a quart or so and use it in my cooking in place of water. Good in soups, bread, muffins… anything where you wouldn’t taste it:

My weight system:

Clean-up time:

The end result:

Any questions?