How is stinky tofu pickled? Is stinky tofu the same as fermented bean curd?

Stinky tofu is a folk snack with rich culture and a history of more than 300 years. The stinky tofu on the streets of Wuhan are mostly signed as "Changsha stinky tofu". It is one of their special snacks and is very popular. Let us see how stinky tofu is pickled.

Contents of this article

1. How is stinky tofu pickled?

2. Is stinky tofu the same as fermented bean curd?

3. How is the smell of stinky tofu created?

How to pickle stinky tofu

Making stinky tofu is not difficult. The important thing is that it takes a long time to ferment and wait for a long time to complete. Let's take a look at the steps of making stinky tofu.

(1) First, make tofu. Soak high-quality soybeans in clean water, wash them with clean water, replace with 20-25 kg of clean water, grind them into a thin paste, add the same amount of warm water as the paste, mix well, put them into a cloth bag, squeeze out the juice, add boiling water into the dregs, mix well, and squeeze again. This way, the dregs will not get on your hands. The reason for adding water to the dregs before squeezing is to completely squeeze out the nutrients remaining in the dregs.

(2) After squeezing out the soy milk, skim off the foam on the surface, boil the soy milk in a pot over high heat, pour it into a jar, add the gypsum juice, and stir with a wooden stick. After stirring for about 15 to 20 turns, you can drip a little water. If it mixes with the soy milk, it means that the gypsum juice is not enough, and you need to add some more gypsum juice and stir again. If the water dripped in does not mix with the soy milk, it will become tofu pudding after about 20 minutes.

(3) Pour the tofu into a wooden box, cover it with a wooden board, and press it with heavy stones to remove the moisture. To make stinky tofu, the tofu must be of special quality, which is harder than the tofu we usually eat, but softer than dried tofu.

(4) Fermentation: Place the prepared tofu on the shelves one by one. The wooden shelves can hold more than ten layers of tofu and allow ventilation in the middle. Apply salt and add mold (dissolve the fungus in water and dip your fingers in it and flick it on the tofu). Place it in a ventilated room without direct sunlight for two to three days. In summer, the temperature in the room can be around 32 degrees. The tofu will grow an inch-long white hair, which is mold.

(5) Treatment after fermentation: Put alum (alum is used by merchants to promote fermentation, so it is best not to use it at home) into a bucket, pour in boiling water and stir with a stick, put in tofu and soak for about 2 hours, remove the tofu and cool it. Then soak the tofu in brine for about 3 to 5 hours in spring and autumn, about 2 hours in summer, and about 6 to 10 hours in winter. After soaking, take out, wash with cold boiled water, and drain the water.

(6) Further processing is carried out according to the tastes and characteristics of different regions.

Is stinky tofu the same as fermented bean curd?

Fermented bean curd, also known as fermented tofu, is a traditional Chinese folk delicacy that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is loved by the Chinese people and the people in Southeast Asia for its good taste, high nutrition, and special fragrance despite its stinky smell. It is an enduring delicacy.

Fermented bean curd is usually divided into three categories: green, red and white. Among them, stinky tofu belongs to the "green" category. "Big block", "red spicy", "rose" and others belong to the "red" category. "Sweet and spicy", "osmanthus", "five spices" and others belong to the "white" category.

There are different types of stinky tofu in the north and south. In the south, it is also called stinky dried tofu. Although its name is vulgar, it is ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside, ordinary yet extraordinary, and has a long history. It is a very distinctive traditional snack of the Han nationality. It is ancient and traditional. Once you taste it, you can't stop. There are regional differences in the production and consumption methods in China and around the world. The stinky dried tofu in Nanjing and Changsha are quite famous, but their production and taste are very different. But they all smell stinky and taste fragrant, which is the characteristic of stinky tofu.

Stinky tofu is one of the special snacks of the Han Chinese. It is a fermented tofu product that is popular in China and other parts of the world. The production methods and eating methods vary greatly in different places. Stinky fermented tofu is a kind of fermented tofu. In the Qing Dynasty, it was sent to the palace as a royal side dish. It was loved by Empress Dowager Cixi and was personally named Yuqingfang. It is a representative snack in Hunan Province, Taiwan Province, Zhejiang Province, Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan City, Yulin City and other places. Stinky tofu is called "stinky dried tofu" in Changsha, and the snack stalls in the Huogongdian area of ​​Pozi Street in Changsha are the most popular.

The stinky tofu sold on the streets of Wuhan is mostly called "Changsha stinky tofu", but the production method is different. It is fried on an iron plate with oil, and the inside is not hollow and is light yellow. The stinky tofu sold on the streets of Tianjin is mostly Nanjing stinky tofu, which is grayish white tofu cubes fried into golden yellow with a very light smell.

How is the smell of stinky tofu made?

The secret to the stinky smell of stinky tofu lies in the "stinky brine". During the production process, the tofu needs to be soaked in the "stinky brine" to ferment.

Different producers have different ways of making stinky brine. For example, some place meat and straw in the open air and let them rot and ferment for several months to obtain a fermentation liquid containing various microorganisms, which is the stinky brine.

Some use plants such as Erythrina leaves, wild amaranth, bamboo shoots, Chinese cabbage, winter melon, ginger, and pepper for fermentation, but they need to be left for a longer time to ferment in order to obtain qualified stinky brine.