Tofu, made from the essence of beans, tastes tender and nutritious, which is delicious on the table. The land is divided into north and south, and tofu is also divided into north and south. South tofu is made of gypsum. china white is tender and soft, and it is not easy to cook. North tofu uses bittern as coagulum, which has long pressing time and high hardness. The skin of the finished product is slightly yellow, and it is omnipotent to fry, stew and stew. It has its own saying that "a thousand beancurds are full of fish", and only North tofu can stand thousands of stews. Speaking of North Tofu, I want to start with "Heshun Tofu". ?

? "Heshun Tofu" is good, but it is good for Heshun's mountains and rivers, but it is good for Heshun people's simplicity and simplicity, and it is good for the unique tofu technology.

Heshun, located in the eastern border of Shanxi Province, at the top of the middle part of Taihang Mountain, has an average elevation of1300m and an average annual temperature of 6.5℃, which is suitable for the growth of soybean, a short-day crop. Heshun soybean is not as round and full as Northeast soybean, but it has a high juice yield by grinding and unique tofu quality, so it has become the top grade of North tofu. There are two tofu chefs in the village where I am located, both of whom are "old craftsmen" for more than 10 years. I have made an in-depth understanding of Heshun tofu from them. They said that there are more than 100 Heshun tofu makers like them all the year round, and they have made indelible contributions to the inheritance and development of Heshun tofu and to building this local regional brand. ?

I. Main processes and procedures

Selecting, soaking, grinding, filtering, boiling, heating and pressing.

Choose. One is to choose water, and the other is to choose beans. Good water and beans directly determine the color and taste of tofu. For the screening of soybeans, the main purpose is to remove impurities and small stones from soybeans, remove ash after elutriation and enter the soaking process. It is often said that the water quality and hardness of water are very important to make a pot of tofu (water quality refers to the sum of various indicators and parameters of water body). Including pH, hardness, salinity, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen concentration and other indicators; Hardness refers to the total content of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate in water.) There are significant differences in the quality of tofu made with different water quality and hardness, and the order of hardness is: weakly acidic water >; Tap water > Weak alkaline water surface water.

Heshun is known as "eight mountains, one water and one field". Heshun is not a water-rich county just from the water, which is related to Heshun topography. Heshun has a high terrain and few controlled water conservancy projects, and most of the surface water in the territory flows to other places. Objectively speaking, it is engineering water shortage rather than resource water shortage. Rivers in Heshun County are divided into two major river basins (Yellow River Basin and Haihe River Basin), three major river systems (Fenhe River System, Ziya River System and South Canal System), four major streams (Qingzhang Dongyuan, Qingzhang Xiyuan, Songxi River and Muguahe River) and thirteen tributaries. The yellow river basin has the papaya river and its tributaries of Fenhe river system; Haihe river basin has the east source of Qingzhang, the west source of Qingzhang and its tributaries of Songxi River and South Canal system of Ziya River system. The four main streams are rivers with clear water base flow all the year round, which are the main surface runoff producing areas in heshun county. Groundwater resources are mainly karst fissure water distributed in the river valley overburden and limestone area in the east, and the eastern area is rich in the western area. Compared with groundwater, the hardness of surface water is lower, because soybean protein likes weak alkaline water quality, and smooth and abundant surface water is an important reason for producing good tofu. Although Heshun tofu mill masters may not fully understand the indicators of water, many generations have found out from practice where the water is good and where the water can cook a good pot of tofu. For example, Mafang Township, Yuma Township and yixing town (part) in Heshun Mugua River Basin; Qingcheng Town, Songyan Town and Pingsong Township along tributaries such as Zhangyi River, Liangyu River, Sanquan River and Qinghe River in the east of Qingzhang River; Hengling River, Shayu River, Hengling Town of Yiling River Basin and Sunshine Village, tributaries of the west source of Qingzhang River, are all places where a pot of good tofu is made. Tofu chefs in these places regard tofu making as their industry, main business and family business. Because they have to rely on tofu business for food, rice, oil and salt, eating and drinking Lazar, and supporting their families. White and tender tofu contains the essence of beans, and it also contains the persistent pursuit and dreams of tofu makers from generation to generation. Especially in the critical period of getting rid of poverty, many tofu masters gradually got rid of poverty through hard work, and some became the leaders on the road to prosperity. Shun tofu is passed down from generation to generation like Heshun culture, and it is endless. Heshun people are sincere, and they can't be adulterated. The tofu made is naturally conscience tofu. Heshun tofu is porcelain, and a catty of soybeans only requires a catty of 342 tofu, which is why Heshun tofu is so loud and goes far.

Bubble. The selected soybeans should be fully soaked after elutriation. Under dry conditions, soybean cotyledons are hard, so it is difficult to separate its protein from cellulose. Therefore, when processing tofu, the whole soybean should be soaked to fully absorb water, so that the shell and watercress become soft and loose, which is convenient for grinding and processing. After soaking, protein in soybean cells is easily soluble in water, which is beneficial to the extraction of protein. The water absorption rate of soybean is related to its species, water temperature and water quality. Generally speaking, the quality of soybean after full water absorption is 2.0-2.2 times of the dry quality before water absorption, that is, the water absorption rate of soybean reaches100%-120% at this time, and insufficient or too high water absorption will have adverse effects on the quality of tofu. Different soaking conditions will change the internal substances and processing characteristics of soybeans, thus affecting the quality of products. Soaking beans takes 2 days in winter, 1 day in spring and autumn, and only 6-8 hours in summer. When soybeans are soaked, there will be a layer of floating foam and bubbles on the water surface, which are the precipitates of protein and saponin in soybeans, which is a normal phenomenon.

Grinding. "Grinding and flowing jade milk, boiling and clearing water". The traditional grinding of Heshun tofu mostly uses stone mill. The stone mill consists of two grinding discs, the upper one has grinding holes, the lower one is embedded with an iron vertical shaft in the middle, and the upper one has a corresponding empty sleeve in the middle. The two discs are combined, the lower one is fixed, and the upper one is rotated around the shaft with a grinding rod. There is an empty chamber on the contact surface of the two fans, which is called "grinding chamber". There are grinding teeth one after another on the periphery of the chamber. When grinding things, grains flow into the chamber through grinding eyes, are evenly distributed around, are ground into powder, and flow from the cracks to the grinding table. The upper fan of the stone mill is rotating, and its grinding teeth and the grinding teeth of the lower fan are interlocked and staggered with each other, resulting in a very small lifting movement, so there is a momentary tooth gap between the upper fan and the lower fan, so that the processed grain can continuously enter the grinding teeth through the channel of the upper fan. Low-speed grinding with stone mill and low-temperature processing, the nutrients are not damaged, and the pure and original flavor of soybean is maintained, which is a pure natural green food. In the past, the stone mill was mostly pushed by manpower, which was both bitter and tiring. That was the job of going to the dark. After three rounds of exercise, I felt dizzy, and it was also useful for livestock to pull the mill (donkeys were often used to pull the mill, because donkeys were docile compared with other livestock, but they had to cover their eyes with thick cloth. Shun people often said that "you can wait for the donkey's footsteps in the mill", and it was more common to pull the mill with donkeys at that time). Now, the masters of Heshun Tofu Workshop all use the improved stone mill (driven by motor) grinding bean curd, and the soaked soybeans are scooped into the mill pocket according to the ratio of 1:3 (one scoop of beans and three scoops of water). With the rapid rotation of the stone mill, thick bean juice with thick bean smell gurgles out from the discharge port. Electric stone mill has high efficiency and saves trouble, so people no longer have to suffer in the mill.

Filter. Filtering means filtering to get pulp, that is, "removing its dross and taking its essence". The soybean meal in the ground soybean-water mixture is separated from the raw soybean milk. For the separation of soybean meal and soybean milk, it is called "shaking the bag" by tofu master. An iron or wooden hanger shaped like a cross is hung on the large iron pot, and the four corners of fine gauze are tied to the four heads of the hanger, and the ground raw bean foam is scooped into the gauze bag. The tofu master swings the hanger like a boat, and the milky white bean juice flows into the large iron pot with a strong fragrance. The bean dregs in the gauze bag used to be the "food ration" of the mountain people. The bean dregs have more crude fiber and are not sticky (later I realized what happened to the "bean dregs" project). It is a family's dry food to steam them into nests with bean dregs and noodles. In fact, bean dregs are still very nutritious. Generally, bean dregs contain 85% water, 3.0% protein, 0.5% fat, 8.0% carbohydrate (cellulose, polysaccharide, etc.), and in addition, they also contain minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. Eating bean curd residue can reduce the cholesterol content in blood and reduce the insulin consumption of diabetic patients; Bean curd residue is rich in dietary fiber, which can prevent intestinal cancer and lose weight, so bean curd residue is regarded as a new health food source. Although bean curd residue is nutritious, few people eat bean curd residue now. Now bean curd residue has become the feed for pigs and cattle.

Cook. When you arrive in Heshun, you can find a tofu shop without anyone telling you, because the smell of boiled tofu floats far away, and there is always an irresistible temptation. It always reminds me of the past when the villagers made tofu as soon as I was a child after the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. Whether tofu is good or not is learned. Take the large iron pot with four buckets of water as an example. The large iron pot with four buckets of water can make about 85 kg of soybeans at a time. The filtered raw soybean milk will start to foam and boil a little more than half an hour after the fire. It is particularly important to note that the initial boiling soybean milk is not really boiled. The tofu master said that the soybean milk has a "false boiling" phenomenon, and the temperature is about 90 degrees when it is false boiling. The uncooked soybean milk contains saponins. If it is not cooked enough, it will stimulate the gastrointestinal mucosa of the human body and make people appear. The judgment of cooking raw soybean milk is entirely based on experience. After boiling, it should be boiled for at least 20 minutes on medium heat until a yellowish film appears on the surface of the boiling soybean milk, and the soybean milk is almost cooked. As long as you catch up with the tofu masters to cook soybean milk, it is a piece of cake if you want to drink it. They will never be stingy, but the yellowish film on the surface can't be left in the bowl for you at will. Some people say that it is the industry rule of tofu masters. I once asked the tofu master what the "article" was about that layer of oil skin. They just smiled and said, "Actually, it's nothing, but that layer of oil skin is the secret of the yellowish appearance of tofu after pressing and molding, which can ensure the quality of tofu and seal off the water."

Point. Heshun traditional tofu is made with multi-purpose brine. The scientific name of bittern is bittern, which is the mother liquor left in the salt pond after salt is made from seawater or salt lake water. The main components are magnesium chloride, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride and sodium chloride, and it tastes bitter. After evaporation and cooling, magnesium chloride crystals are precipitated, which are called halogen blocks. At present, many chefs of Heshun tofu ordering system directly buy edible magnesium chloride (halogen tablets). In fact, edible magnesium chloride is purer than brine, and the tofu made by order tastes better. When "ordering" tofu, the masters directly scoop the marinated slices into the boiling soybean milk with spoons, and slowly stir them clockwise, so that the bean curd protein coagulates and the bean curd brain has formed. When the soybean milk is made, the white flocculent tofu can be clearly separated from the yellowish boiled water, and the bean curd ordering is completed. When ordering tofu, it is necessary to master the "quantity". If there is more brine, the tofu tastes slightly bitter, and if there is less influence on the coagulation time of soybean protein, the tofu is not strong enough. It is not enough to master the skill of "everything drops everything" without years of tempering and practice.

Press. Pressing is dehydration. Spoon the ordered tofu into a wooden mold with gauze laid. At this time, the excess brine flows out from the small hole below the tofu mold. The tofu master piously wraps the gauze, puts on a wooden board with the same inner diameter as the outer mouth of the mold, and presses on a big stone. Wrapping gauze is also a technical activity. If the gauze stacking is not handled well, there will be gauze stacking marks on the outside of the extruded tofu, which will affect the appearance. These details also need constant practice and mastery. Whether tofu porcelain is real or not depends on the time of pressing tofu and the quality of the things used to press tofu. Generally, the shortest pressing time of Heshun tofu is about 3 hours.

Although Heshun tofu has been passed down for generations, it has been innovated on the basis of traditional techniques and modern processing machinery, but the quality of Heshun tofu has not changed, and Heshun tofu has become a well-known landmark food. Those who come to Heshun like to order a plate of authentic Heshun tofu and eat it. When they leave Heshun, they don't forget to bring a piece of tofu to share with their relatives and friends. It is respectable that the chefs who make tofu from generation to generation have a unique understanding, bearing, innovation and development of Heshun traditional tofu technology while they are industrious and rich, which makes Heshun tofu food feast reach the ideal realm of * * * harmony in color, flavor and expression.