I made tofu a while ago, but initially gave it up again. Recently I've picked it up again. It's kind of meditative and neat, and the result is very tasty, infinitely better than the bricks common in western supermarkets, nutty, creamy, refreshing, and soft. Now, with inflation going up and me realizing that about 3 bucks worth of soybeans are enough for one person's protein for a week, I upgraded ordered me some better equipment (large pot that's actually big enough, a press, a hand-cranked mill). Now I'm thinking about starting a tempeh culture to better deal with the lees. Still working on how hard I need to press the tofu to get the consistency just right, and getting the soy milk on point. I wanna try including vegetables in a batch soon. Here's a basic Japanese recipe for tofu: 6 ounces dried soybeans, yellow/white (not edamame) 8 cups water, plus soaking (soaking liquid can be used, if done correctly), ideally not too hard and around 6.5-7 ph >Making Soymilk Soak the beans, for about 13.5 hours at 20C. Shorter if hotter, less of colder. When squeezed between your fingers, they should split into two halves easily, and each half should be flat with an even yellow color and must be breakable crosswise with your fingernail easily. Else, soak longer. If the soaking liquid throws bubbles, replace it. Set 5 cups of water on a medium flame in the large pot while you process the beans Blend the beans into a fine paste with 2 cups of water, rinsing the blender with another half cup of water. Immediately add this to the hot water and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. As soon as it rises quickly, take from the heat, wait for the foam to deflate a bit and strain into a cloth-lined sieve, close the cloth and press as hard as you can. Spread the pressed mass out onto the cloth, spread a half cup of water over it, and press again to get all out. Simmer the soy milk for 10-15 minutes at 180F, stirring frequently. This is necessary to make the protein usable, so don't skip it The pressed out mass is okara. It's edible, can be frozen and can be put in stir-fries. The liquid is soy milk. >Making tofu >1 batch of the soy milk, colled to about 170F (cooled for 2-3 minutes), stirring to prevent a skin from forming >1.5 tsp nigari crystals, or 2 tsp liquid nigari >0.5 cup water >Spatula Combine nigari with water, stir to dissolve. Put the cloth-lined mold above a pot or baking pan, or put the cloth used above in a sieve. Using the spatula, vigorously stir the milk in a z pattern across the bottom, 6 to 8 tims to get the milk koving well, then spread a third of the coagulant mix into this. Hold the spatular in the middle and wait until the milk stops moving, then gently move the spatula out. Sprinkle another third of the coagulant mix on top of the milk. Cover the pot and wait 3 minutes. Sprinkle the rest of the coagulant on the milk and gently stir back and forth across the top centimeter of the milk for 20 seconds. Give milkier areas extra attention. Then recover the pot and wait 3 minutes. Uncover, and restir as above if there's still milky areas. If it's got too cold and it's still milky after that, very gently reheat a few minutes and stir gently, recover for a few minuts. If still milky, add a bit more coagulant. Ladle a bit of the whey into the prepared mold to wet the cloth. Gently add more why and curds until done. Fold the cloth above the curds. Put a 1-1.5 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes on top, distributed as evenly as possible. It should be down to 0.5-0.33 of its original thickness. Hot tofu is delicate, so either let it cool in the mold without the weight for farmhouse tofu, or demold into a pot with cold water, letting it rest for a minute, and then removing the cloth. If eaten on the day (most delicious, but should be at least 2 hours after), put on a plate and cover. Keeps up to a week in the fridge if covered well with water, changed every second day. For the whey to be edible (can be used to make soups, cook vegetables, rice, etc., has extra protein), cook it for 10-15 minutes. Otherwise, it makes for a mild soap. So let this be a thread about tofu discussion and related concepts, be they fermented or not. Tofu, tempeh, miso, etc. etc. For people who haven't done it before: Go try it out! You probably have all you need in your kitchen. A large pot, a medium pot, a sieve, a blender or other grinding implement, and a cheesecloth are all you need. And as I said, it's cheap, so perfect for our fucked up times.