Tofu belongs to healthy foodSince it is made from soy, we can rely on surveys that also include soy consumption and its impact on health.

Soybean consumption data come from studieswhich were oriented towards the impact of diet on health (e.g. Japan's National Nutrition Survey), but also from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The most important of these studies looked at the relationship between nutrition and disease and these were also comprehensively monitored consumption of soy and soy products.

Right now Japanesewho are in the world acquaintances with his/her longevity, they consume on average 1 to 1 ½ servings of soy products per day (which include tofu, edamame beans, miso paste, natto and others). In addition, in older Japanese They were found to consume up to 3 servings of soy products per day.

The results of the studies also show that within daily consumption soy products is about half from that very tofu consumption.

Soy cheese, or tofu cheese

What is it?

Tofu is sometimes also called tofu cheese or soy cheese. This is because its preparation is similar to cheese made from animal milk and it is made right from soy.

Cooked soybeans with they mix and precedence. It will be created like this soy milk and by-product, which is called okara and can still be used well for production spread, or even to cakes and biscuits.

Obtained soy milk with will warm up, will be added coagulant (in the production of animal cheese it is rennet) and is left cool down. Precipitated soy protein with strain through a thick sieve or cloth and put it in the tofu presswhere to continue squeezes and prints with excess water. Similar to making cheese from animal milk.

How coagulant is usually used in tofu, for example Japanese nigariwhat is actually magnesium chloride acquired from seawater. But it is also often used calcium chloride. On the Slovak market, we can find tofu made with both one and the other type of coagulant.

The consistency of tofu also affects timehow long will it stay in the pressIf it remains longer, more water is squeezed out and The tofu will be firmer.If it remains shorter, will tofu contain more water and will be less solidAs a guide, the time in the tofu press is calculated in tens of minutes.

Is tofu boring and tasteless?

Quite the opposite! On the Slovak market today we will find different types of tofu. The "classic" is white, or natural. You could say that it is tastelessIf it is not prepared properly, the resulting dish will not be tasty at all. But there is nothing to worry about, because it is thanks this his "tastelessness"We can have it." to prepare for dessert, or salty. Tofu into each other sucks any marinadein which we dip it. It will get used to to soak just in soy saucewhich he adds umami taste.

On the other hand, when we add sweet marinade, let's prepare ourselves healthy dessert, or sweet main courseWe can be inspired pancakes with tofu "cottage cheese", which we will prepare from crushed white tofu, soy milk, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla and raisins.

So marinade is in the case of white tofu extremely important.

It is very popular. smoked tofuIt is extremely delicious tofu that no longer needs to be marinated. Taste it is soft salty and smoked. Just need it to fry briefly in a panwhether add to the finished sauce, or soupsThey can be made from it. to mix also spreads for bread.

The same the advantage of speed of preparation he also has it ready marinated tofuIt is also available on the market in different flavors, e.g. chili and lime, with thyme, or sweet chili. You can also just take it out of the package and to fry briefly in a pan. To serve you can e.g. with rice or with pasta.

And you may have also noticed in the stores basil tofu. Such can be easily used also to cold kitchen.

Nutritional values and benefits

We will return again to health and tofuAs we mentioned at the beginning, tofu is one of the healthy foodLet's mention a few nutritional values:

• Proteins –16g/100g
• Calcium – 210 -324mg/100g (for comparison, whole cow's milk has only 110 – 130mg/100g)
• Iron – 5.4mg/100g (which is 2 to 3 times more than in animal meat)
• Isoflavonoids – tofu contains a large amount of these health-beneficial substances that act:
  • preventive against breast cancer,
  • they improve vascular congestion and increase vascular elasticity,
  • they reduce risk stroke,
  • they reduce risk cardiovascular diseases,
  • have a preventive effect against stomach cancer.

Speakepty

Inspirational tofu dish recipes, but also sweet pancakes, for university cafeterias, but also households can be found on our website, in the section Recipes or in cookbooks for download:

• 5-week cookbook (pancakes and tofu recipes)
• One-pot recipes (tofu recipes)

Sources:

1. https://www.theveganrd.com/2011/03/soyfoods-in-asia-how-much-do-people-really-eat/
2. https://www.osteoporoza.sk/pacienti/vyziva/tabula-obsahu-vapnika/
3. https://zdravovek.eu/tofu-syr/
4. https://zelenajedalen.sk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/recepty-z-jedneho-hrnca.pdf
5. Chocolate photo created by timolina – www.freepik.com
6. Chinese photo created by jcomp – www.freepik.com
7. Photo by Sherman Kwan he Unsplash