Tofu introduction:
China is the birthplace of tofu. According to legend, the mother of Liu An, the king of Huainan (BC 177-BC 122), likes to eat soybeans. Once her mother couldn't eat the whole soybean because of illness. Liu An had the soybean ground into powder, so she rushed into some water to boil it into soybean milk, but she was afraid that it would taste weak, and she put some brine in it, which turned it into a lump, that is, tofu flower.
Huainan Wang's mother was very happy to eat it, and her condition improved, so tofu was handed down. The making of tofu was probably invented by Liu An when he organized alchemy.
Alchemists used many minerals and inorganic salts in alchemy, and occasionally found that gypsum or other salts could solidify soybean milk into tofu. Zhu, a famous poet in the Song Dynasty, said, "Growing peas is exhausting. If you know Huainan, you will get a spring cloth. "
And self-note "handed down tofu was originally the king of Huainan." Li Ming's Compendium of Materia Medica: "The method of tofu began with Liu An, the king of Huainan in the former Han Dynasty".
There are many records about the method of making tofu in some ancient books after the Ming Dynasty. In Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, the rapid production of tofu and the use of coagulants are elaborated in detail: "The method of tofu can be used for all black beans, soybeans, white beans and mung beans. Methods: Soaking in water, pulverizing, deslagging, cooking, and precipitating with brine or alum juice or vinegar.
Others use gypsum as the final harvest in vats. Generally, salty, bitter, sour and bitter things can be restrained. Those things that condense on its surface are exposed and dried, which is called tofu skin. It tastes delicious and smells sweet, salty and cold. "Bittern is a concentrated solution of magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride and other ingredients; Alum juice is a mineral containing heavy water salt, such as potassium alum.
Gypsum is hydrated calcium sulfate; Sour vinegar is edible vinegar. Most of these coagulants are still in use today. In the Ming Dynasty, Wu's "Mo E Shan Ji" said: "Anyone who makes tofu will mix mung beans with each liter of soybeans and cook them in brine, which is very tough and secret. "It means: when making tofu, add one-tenth of mung beans to soybeans, and the tofu made is particularly tough.
This is also worth studying and studying now. Su Bingheng, a poet in the Ming Dynasty, wrote: "Huainan is the most sophisticated technique, and the fading of the skin shows the essence. A round of grinding nectar, boiling soup rolling snowflakes. Toad dipped in a tile has a shadow, but a golden knife cuts jade without blemish.
Who knows the taste, mostly on monks and Taoists. The poem gives a concise, flexible and vivid description of the invention, production method, characteristics and dietary customs of tofu, which is impressive and intriguing.