Our Process

We'd like to give you a basic idea of how our tofu is made. If you are interested in more detail, I suggest you find a copy of The Book Of Tofu by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi. It's packed with information and will help you learn more about Japanese culture.
The day before tofu-making day, Jeff sorts through, washes, and soaks the soybeans in barrels overnight. He comes in the morning, drains the beans and puts them through a grinder combined with water.
This puree ("go"), which has a thick pancake like consistency, goes into a large cooker and is heated to about 180 degrees. Then it goes into a large sack in the hydraulic press, where all the "milk" is pressed out into the curdling barrel.
The fiber ("okara") that is left in the sack is composted, cooked into yummy dishes, or made into okara castles and pies by our daughter. We welcome anyone who would like to take it to cook with, compost, or feed to their animals as we are left with a LOT.
Jeff adds calcium sulfate (gypsum) to the "milk" as he stirs to curdle it. The formation of the curds and whey looks like soft, floating clouds and is very beautiful.
The whey is traditionally used for cleaning, and indeed, it is very pleasant and effective to clean buckets and equipment with warm whey!


The whey is then drained out, leaving the barrel with curds. The curds are very delicate and delicious, definitely my favorite way to eat tofu! These curds are ladled into pressing boxes lined with cheesecloth and weighted down for about 50 minutes.




Once the tofu blocks are pressed, they go into the cooling tank. Maho then cuts the large blocks into 24 and packs them in buckets with fresh water.


And off it goes, to co-op, stores, restaurants, buying clubs, fairs, and into the mouths of dear people!