I Have Seen Something Called Tofu In The Supermarket What Is It?

Tofu is a fermented product that is made from soya beans. Soya beans are very versatile and have a high protein content. They can be pulverised and the juice extracted from them is white and is called soya milk. This can be drunk as a product on its own, either plain or flavoured, and is useful for people who are lactose intolerant. Such people cannot tolerate ordinary milk because they react against the lactose and can be made very unwell.

If soya milk is used to make a sort of yoghurt, this is tofu. The soya milk is treated with a coagulating agent such as calcium sulphate or calcium chloride. Like the lactic acid produced by bacteria that ferment ordinary milk to produce yoghurt, this causes the soya milk to separate into curds and whey. The curds are the tofu.

The curds can be compressed to remove some of the excess fluid, or left soft and creamy. The two sorts are called hard and silken tofu. Hard tofu is generally used as a meat substitute in things like Bolognese sauce or stir fries whereas silken tofu is flavoured with vanilla and sugar and is served as a desert.