TOFU: WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT IN THE KITCHEN?

All the features and benefits of soybean stick

Light in color and with a cheese-like appearance, tofu is a soy product that comes from the East, but has now fully entered kitchens around the world. Beyond the borders of China and Japan, where it was born, tofu in the early 1960s reached the West thanks to macrobiotic cuisine, a doctrine for pursuing a healthy and long life, based on Chinese medicine and Zen Buddhism, in which health it is based on the balance between Yin and Yang press tofu .

But let’s go back to tofu: this food is obtained by curdling soy milk and pressing the result into blocks , with special tools often made of bamboo, or with classic forms and baskets of dairy production. It can be considered to all intents and purposes a vegetable cheese , because its production is very similar to that of cow’s milk cheese.

press tofu

To obtain the curdling of soy milk, nigari is almost always used , a highly soluble inorganic compound obtained from water purification processes, and formed essentially of magnesium chloride.

Perfect for those with a vegetarian or vegan diet , tofu is undoubtedly an ingredient to discover because it is rich in properties and very versatile. It can be used in many ways in the kitchen: read them all in our in-depth study.

It does not contain lactose and is low in sodium. It is highly digestible, has a low glycemic index and has a good content of mineral salts such as iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium, as well as essential vitamins and amino acids.