Thursday, May 14, 2009

Makes sense!

So, upon reading on wikipedia, apparently tofu is prepared in a similar way to cheese, as it turns out. But first, a word on soy milk. Soy milk is actually an emulsion of soy beans and water. So basically, you take soy beans, crush them into a fine paste, and mix really well with great vengeance in hot water. The result is an emulsion (Fine mixture) of soy bean and water, with some undissolved bits left over, called "okara" in japan. So, both milk and soy contain random proteins just floating about, and when released to an emulcifying agent, like salt, or something that changes the acidity, like lemon juice, all those rogue bits of protein go "Holy shoite lads, it's acid! Stick together!" And so they do, making little globular thingamagijs that are weird. This same process works in both milk and soy milk, leaving a curd of either cheese or tofu in either case. The resulting curd is then squeeeeshed until less and less water remains, and BAM! tofu. So there you go!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And, what does it actually taste like?

Nicoley said...

Really bland unless you marinate it or have it in a sauce.