The origin of bean curd is a matter of opinion, but most people believe that it started with Liu An, the grandson of Liu Bang, the founder of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu An, known as the king of Huainan, his mother preferred to eat soybeans, one day his mother was sick in bed, the king of Huainan ordered people to grind soybeans into powder, add water and boil it into soup so that his mother could drink it, but was afraid that it would be tasteless, so he added a little salt to season it, and he didn't expect it to actually coagulate into a block, which is exactly the formation of the initial embryonic form of bean curd. Because Liu An is an alchemist, so when the tofu prototype, he will be with the Fangshi *** with the test, after a number of studies, and finally found that gypsum or salt can make soybean milk coagulation into tofu, used to cook very delicious, and from then on tofu also began to spread in the folklore.
And some of the literature also appeared Liu An's title, for the origin of tofu provides some powerful endorsement. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty said, "The beans were planted and the seedlings were sparse, and the heart had rotted with exhaustion. Knew that the king of Huai technology, An sitting to get the spring cloth." And note to himself that "the world rumors that tofu is the king of Huainan technique." Li Shizhen, a medicine expert of the Ming Dynasty, recorded in "Compendium of Materia Medica - Cereals - Tofu" that "the method of tofu began with Liu An, the king of Huainan in Han Dynasty." The Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen wrote in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" that "the method of bean curd began with Liu An, the King of Huainan in Han Dynasty." In a poem by Ming Su Xuexi, he wrote, "The art of Huainan is the best, and the essence is seen when the skin is removed. A wheel of mill flows with agar liquid, and snowflakes roll in a hundred boiling soups. There is a shadow of a toad dipped in tile percussion, and a golden knife cuts through the flawless jade. Who knows the flavor, more in the monks and Taoists?quot; Wang Sanjian "ancient and modern things test" said: "tofu began in the king of Huainan Liu An Fangshi's art also." Gao Shiqi in the early Qing Dynasty in the "Tianlu know the balance" also has "tofu, King of Huainan Liu An made, also known as Li Qi" record.
While some people may think that before the Tang Dynasty books have not appeared in the word "tofu", but in the 1960 Henan Mixian excavations in the Han Tomb of Ta Hu Ting I found a large area of portraits on the tofu workshop map of the carving, and the owner of the tomb is the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, for the production of tofu during the Han Dynasty, provides sufficient evidence.
With the different times, the name of bean curd has been changed many times. Ancient language called soybeans, so in the "Er Ya" in the tofu for Rong Beans; Lu You's "Jiannan Poetry Manuscript" said tofu for "Li Qi", in the "neighboring song" in the self note cloud: "Li Qi, Shu people to the name of tofu." And because of the 'rotten' word has "rot, decay or corruption" meaning, so the ancients as much as possible will be 'rotten' to avoid, and there are "to its", "sweet", "boneless meat" and many other aliases. According to the Ming Wang Zhijian "table of different records", Qing "firm gourd set - tofu" Chu people have been contained, according to legend, Yuan Siye Sun Daya smacked the name of the tofu is not elegant, and then renamed "peas and milk". And the "Qing Yi Lu" in the "euphonious people call tofu for a small slaughter of sheep records, and this may be with the tofu in the past is a cheap substitute for meat has a lot to do with.
There is also a story about the origin of tofu that goes like this. There is a family of three, living in a couple with the mother, but unfortunately the mother-in-law treats the daughter-in-law is not good, even ordinary soybean milk are not willing to let her drink, one day the mother-in-law to go out of town for two or three days, when the mother-in-law foot, the daughter-in-law after the foot began to grind the beans, cooking soybean milk, but when the soybean milk is boiling pot, she is full of joy to ladle loaded, the yard came the sound of footsteps, the daughter-in-law is afraid of mother-in-law is back, to see the scolding, so she hastily pick up the pot of freshly boiled soybean milk to the stove, and the daughter-in-law is afraid of the mother-in-law, and the mother-in-law is back, see the scolding, then hurriedly picked up the whole pot! Just boiled soymilk to the stove side of the altar to pour, go out to meet a look only to know is the husband came back, and then joyfully pulling her husband to go into the house to drink soymilk, which know open the lid of the altar to see that the soymilk has become a snow-white coagulant; the original altar before soaking sauerkraut, there are still some sour soup, so soymilk poured into the coagulant, the young couple reluctantly tasted actually found that this coagulant soymilk flavor is good, tender and tasty, and so the couple named him "Tease". They named him "Jufu", and tofu was born from this. Regardless of whether tofu started here or was created by Liu An, we should still be grateful to our ancestors for their wisdom in the past to create this nutritious food today.