Make Your Own Tofu

Published on Thursday, April 3, 2008, by CHOW Food Team / Edit Post

Make Your Own Tofu

A homemade version of the vegetarian centerpiece

Tofu can be nutritional, versatile, and delicious, if it’s made right. It can also be mediocre, rubbery, and dull-tasting, if it’s done wrong. Most of the versions lining the grocery store shelves fall into the latter bucket. We have good news: You can make fresh tofu at home. More good news: It’s easy. » Download and print these instructions

Getting Started

We’re assuming that you already have basic tools lying around (such as cutting boards, bowls, a large 15- to 20-quart pot, and measuring cups), so here are the special ingredients and equipment that you’ll need. We found soybeans at our local Whole Foods; try any health food store with a good bulk section.

  • 1 pound dried soybeans (about 3 cups)
  • 1 (1/2 gallon) empty paper milk or juice carton
  • Resealable plastic bags
  • Masking or electrical tape
  • Cheesecloth (at least 1 square yard)
  • 1 pound of small weights
    (dried beans or pie weights work well)
  • Thermometer
  • 2 teaspoons powdered nigari
    (see sidebar at right for other coagulants)
  • Cooling rack
  • Fine mesh strainer
» Next: Make the Soy Milk

Tip: What’s in a Name

There are two broad categories of tofu on the market: regular and silken. This recipe makes regular tofu. Silken has a more custardy texture, and to make it you would let the curds sit undisturbed in the mold. Use silken tofu in this smoothie recipe.

On Coagulation

Making tofu isn’t so very different from making cheese. First you make a liquid, in this case soy milk, by soaking, pulverizing, and cooking soybeans. Then you add a coagulant, which encourages curds to form.

Various ingredients can act as coagulants, from regular old vinegar to things you are less likely to have lying around, such as calcium sulfate (gypsum).

In our tests, we tried a few coagulants, and were most content with the tofu that we made with powdered nigari, a natural coagulant made from extracting magnesium chloride from seawater. It can be purchased online or in health food stores.

We also tried lemon juice (1/4 cup lemon juice dissolved in 1 cup water) and Epsom salt (2 teaspoons salt dissolved in 1 cup water). While both were acceptable, the tofu made with nigari was firmer. The lemon juice produced a tangier tofu.

Related Recipes

Show off your homemade tofu in these recipes.

Asian-y Tofu Scramble

 Chilled Tofu Salad with Miso-Ginger Vinaigrette
 Saag Tofu

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POST A COMMENT |5 Comments

COMMENT

  • There is alot of positive info out on Tofu and soy.

    Here's a link that is a bit more balanced than those "scary" Price folks:
    http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/soycontroversy.aspx
    It's written by a Doctor who recommends soy as part of her patients diets.

    Here's a second link from Life Extension magazine, that busts the myths against soy:...+READ

    There is alot of positive info out on Tofu and soy.

    Here's a link that is a bit more balanced than those "scary" Price folks:
    http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/soycontroversy.aspx
    It's written by a Doctor who recommends soy as part of her patients diets.

    Here's a second link from Life Extension magazine, that busts the myths against soy: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2010/jul2010_Is-Soy-Safe_01.htm-COLLAPSE

  • That link is a waste of time to read. See the following from Steve Holt's website:

    With respect, that source of yours ranks right up there with Mercola and others like him. The Price people are deeply anti-vegetarian as a core belief, and their stuff is so slanted it's nearly horizontal. I'd be the first to tell you that soy has some drawbacks, but you're never going to get a balanced view on...+READ

    That link is a waste of time to read. See the following from Steve Holt's website:

    With respect, that source of yours ranks right up there with Mercola and others like him. The Price people are deeply anti-vegetarian as a core belief, and their stuff is so slanted it's nearly horizontal. I'd be the first to tell you that soy has some drawbacks, but you're never going to get a balanced view on anything from websites like that.

    Take a good look at the long list of research. Eliminate the articles relating to soy infant formula (I'd never recommend that) and related articles, eliminate the animal research that fails to establish a direct link to human pathology, eliminate the articles about high dose SPI, eliminate the bizarre speculation that soy is responsible for the aggregate downward shift in the age of puberty (but they omit the incredibly obvious question of reproductive hormone additives to dairy cows, additives which have been traced into human breast milk...) well...
    That is not a website that merits your attention.

    Here's a link to the forums (you have to sign up to participate) which has a healthy debate about soy products.

    http://vegetarianbodybuilder.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=314&mode=linearplus

    Essentially, soy, the food product is safe in moderation...which can be said about everything.-COLLAPSE

  • Wow, very interesting information on the westonaprice.org web-site. Makes me think differently about the soy milk I am drinking in my coffee right now. Yikes!

    Thanks for sharing.

  • If you have concerns about Soy and Soy Levithin, which everyone should, then I would suggest you check it this link
    http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstrut...

    In My Opinion, all Soy products should carry a warning. The scientific and medical studies that have shown the dangers of using Soy in our diet are truly shocking.
    3 year old girls with pubic hair and breats after having Soy formula. Now...+READ

    If you have concerns about Soy and Soy Levithin, which everyone should, then I would suggest you check it this link
    http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstrut...

    In My Opinion, all Soy products should carry a warning. The scientific and medical studies that have shown the dangers of using Soy in our diet are truly shocking.
    3 year old girls with pubic hair and breats after having Soy formula. Now that's damn wrong!

    Contrary to popular deception, Soy Lecithin does NOT have a GRAS status and no product that contains SL has ever been given approval by the FDA.
    But then, you only need a couple of thousand bucks to pay off the FDA these days anyway.-COLLAPSE

  • Or, get a soy milk maker which does the grinding and heating and separating for you. I love mine. I also have a wooden tofu mold. I have found that homemade soy milk and tofu are a bit more 'beaney" tasting than the commercial products; but for use in most recipes you won't notice.