NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Those who do not eat the flesh of animals have plenty of options when it comes to meat alternatives. Other Chemicals
Among these foods is tofu, which you’ll probably be familiar with from restaurant menus and, increasingly, supermarket aisles.
To the uninitiated, though, tofu may seem like a bit of an alien substance, and it has a very unfair reputation for being disgusting.
Cooked the right way, tofu – also known as bean curd – is just as delicious as it is healthy. But what exactly is tofu?
Tofu is a food derived from a dried, oval-shaped, medium-sized and yellowish bean, called a soy bean.
The bean is mild-flavoured with a buttery taste and texture, and it is commonly used in its original form in soups, salads and refried bean dishes.
Tofu is made through coagulation of soy milk (itself derived from soy beans) and then by pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks.
The processes typically involved in tofu production are cleaning, soaking, grinding beans in water, filtering, boiling, coagulation, and finally pressing.
Two types of coagulants are used commercially: either salts, like calcium sulfate, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride, or acids, like glucono delta-lactone (GDL), lemon juice and vinegar.
Tofu is low in calories, high in iron, fairly high in protein and, depending on how it’s been made, can have a high calcium or magnesium content.
Its versatility means it is used in savoury and sweet dishes and it is a main component in many East Asian and Southeast Asian dishes.
The name tofu comes from the same Japanese word, which was borrowed from the Chinese word for bean (豆腐 dòufu).
It is thought to have first been described in English in a letter in 1770 (written by Benjamin Franklin) but tofu-making has been going on for 2,000 years, and the Buddhist vegetarian diet is thought to have ensured its survival in history.
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