The Visitors

The clacking of Yoshitake-san’s wooden geta against the imbedded stones of
Lord Shimizu’s courtyard pierced the mist of a chilly autumn night in the third year of Nippon Emperor Shōmu’s reign. Yoshitake-san rushed to tell his lord of a strange food brought by Buddhist monks from the Middle Kingdom across the sea.

They claimed to have made the sponge-like substance from a white liquid obtained by grinding beans. The monks had lean, lithe, muscular bodies, and they swore that the substance had nourished them on their travels without any need for the flesh of animals.

Yoshitake-san hid the beige-colored cake under his kimono, where it was tightly wrapped in a roughly woven cloth and protected by bamboo matting; he was unwilling to share what he had heard and seen with anyone but his master. For if what the Buddhist visitors said was true, this simple monks’ food had the potential to sustain Lord Shimizu’s samurai.

What, exactly, is tofu?

Tofu, 豆腐 , is actually a Japanese word for curdled beans, a derivation of the Chinese word doufu. We’ll admit that tofu sounds better than curdled beans, rather like cheese has a more pleasant ring than curdled milk. So, we’ll stick with tofu.

Tofu originated in China over 2,000 years ago, and Buddhist monks took it with them to Japan, Vietnam, and throughout Southeast Asia. Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman and scientist, provided us with the first recorded use of the word “towfu” in the English language when he authored a letter mentioning the “Chinese cheese” he had tasted in London in 1770. Although early Asian immigrants to Europe and North America produced tofu for their own consumption, tofu did not attain any significant degree of recognition in the West until the middle of the 20th century. Today, tofu is a popular high-protein alternative to meat.

What, exactly, is tofu?

Tofu, 豆腐 , is actually a Japanese word for curdled beans, a derivation of the Chinese word doufu. We’ll admit that tofu sounds better than curdled beans, rather like cheese has a more pleasant ring than curdled milk. So, we’ll stick with tofu.

Tofu originated in China over 2,000 years ago, and Buddhist monks took it with them to Japan, Vietnam, and throughout Southeast Asia. Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman and scientist, provided us with the first recorded use of the word “towfu” in the English language when he authored a letter mentioning the “Chinese cheese” he had tasted in London in 1770. Although early Asian immigrants to Europe and North America produced tofu for their own consumption, tofu did not attain any significant degree of recognition in the West until the middle of the 20th century. Today, tofu is a popular high-protein alternative to meat.

The process of making tofu starts with cleaning and soaking dried soybeans in water. The softened beans are then ground with more water, and the slurry is strained to obtain a liquefied extract. The extract is then cooked, and a coagulant is added to solidify it into small lumps. This chunky substance is pressed into a mold, and after cooling, cut into bars. Various coagulants can be used, including calcium sulfate (gypsum), magnesium chloride, and acids like vinegar or lemon juice.

Depending on the cooking process and coagulant used, the texture of tofu can range from extra soft to extra firm. Unless it is frozen, dried, or pickled, tofu is usually submersed in water and refrigerated in order to delay spoilage.

The process of making tofu starts with cleaning and soaking dried soybeans in water. The softened beans are then ground with more water, and the slurry is strained to obtain a liquefied extract. The extract is then cooked, and a coagulant is added to solidify it into small lumps. This chunky substance is pressed into a mold, and after cooling, cut into bars. Various coagulants can be used, including calcium sulfate (gypsum), magnesium chloride, and acids like vinegar or lemon juice.

Depending on the cooking process and coagulant used, the texture of tofu can range from extra soft to extra firm. Unless it is frozen, dried, or pickled, tofu is usually submersed in water and refrigerated in order to delay spoilage.

How do we make our tofu?

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We start by soaking clean, dried soybeans for five hours in slightly alkaline water drawn from our own deep well that taps an underground aquifer, protected and filtered by 15 meters of soil, rock, sand, and clay. We then grind the softened beans with more of the same water, resulting in a grainy paste, which we regrind and strain, and then grind and strain yet again in order to obtain a pure, liquified extract that is ready for taking to a slow boil.

At just the right moment during the cooking process, we add sugarcane vinegar as the coagulant and a touch of sea salt. The curds are poured into a mold and tightly pressed into cakes. After cooling, the cakes are cut into 250 g, 500 g, or
1 kg blocks and inserted into clear, food-grade, 85-micrometer-thick, bacteria-impenetrable plastic packages, which are then vacuum sealed.

The result is an extra firm tofu that is ideally suited for replacing meat. You can stir fry, deep fry, simmer, braise, bake, roast, grill, or even dehydrate our tofu, just as you would beef, pork, fowl, or fish. In fact, for any of your recipes for cooking meat, you can simply use an equivalent amount of Doña Zarina tofu, flavor it similarly, and you’ll have a delicious and healthful alternative source of protein.

  • Could we get the same result if we only soaked our beans for four hours rather than five? Maybe.
  • Would grinding the beans two times rather than three be acceptable? Perhaps.
  • Could we use cheap gypsum (the primary material in wallboard) rather than sugarcane vinegar? Well, yes.
  • Could we add a chemical emulsifier to make it easier to obtain a uniform texture? Of course.
  • Could we simply cover the finished blocks with inexpensive plastic wrap rather than vacuum sealing them? For sure.

But we don’t. We make tofu for you exactly as we’d make it for ourselves. Only four ingredients blessed by nature qualify for the Doña Zarina name: soybeans, water, sugarcane vinegar and sea salt—plus the skill of artisans.

How healthful is soy?

Current thinking regarding a healthful diet — what is considered healthful has changed over the years — generally means one’s diet is composed of foods that contain low levels of cholesterol, sodium, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates. But after that, opinions start to differ. Some people swear by a low carbohydrate diet, while ignoring fat content. Others are just the opposite, declaring fats to be evil and carbohydrates salubrious.

Our opinion is simple: Too many calories of the wrong type are not good for your body, leading to excess weight and all the attendant problems obesity brings. We’ve witnessed many people with health problems who eat too much sugar and refined carbohydrates. Likewise, people who overconsume meat, and its accompanying saturated fat, are often beset by a failing body.
Ergo, our thinking is that a diet based on copious amounts of vegetables, combined with
complex carbohydrates for the release of quick energy and a judicious level of unsaturated
fats for the distribution of stored energy, probably serves the human body best.

As for protein, the body desperately needs it in order to build and repair itself, especially bodies of growing children and those of adults who engage in manual labor or high-intensity sports.

So, with the above in mind, how does Doña Zarina stack up? Well, the following is a summary of our levels of nutrients as tested by the Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

As you can see, Doña Zarina tofu’s caloric, fat, and protein levels are higher than that of average tofu. But we consider that to be good. Because we think that you really don’t want us to charge you for the water in your tofu. You paid for the benefits of soybeans, not water, so we make Doña Zarina tofu denser, heavier, firmer, and meatier than other varieties.

In fact, a good comparison for our tofu is lean beef. Both have similar caloric levels and both are high in protein. But beef contains cholesterol, while our tofu has none, and although Doña Zarina tofu may take second place to beef in protein content, we didn’t have to kill any cows to get it!

We’ll let you decide. We think it makes an excellent substitute for meat in our diet, and we’re willing to bet that it will do the same for yours.

Would you like to hear from us directly?

We want to hear what you think of Doña Zarina tofu (hopefully good, but if not, we want to hear that too!). Because at The Tofu & Bean Factory, customer service is not a department . . . it’s an attitude.

The Tofu & Bean Factory Inc.
is located at:
370 Padilla Road, Bolo
Labrador, Pangasinan
Philippines
We’d like for you to
pay us a visit in person,
give us a call at:
(+63) 75 206 0047
Or send us an email at:
info@donazarina.com

All rights reserved. © The Tofu & Bean Factory Inc. 2018