As we all know, Chinese food culture is very profound, and the Chinese people have never stopped researching about food. Some Chinese food is famous because of its fragrance, while others are famous because of its odor, such as the stinky tofu in Hunan province. We all know that Changsha stinky tofu is a traditional Chinese folk snack, and nowadays you can see stinky tofu sellers in almost every street and alley. And we all know that Changsha stinky tofu is not only stinky, the whole stinky tofu is also black, so since the stinky tofu is black and stinky, why do so many people still like to eat it?

01Why is stinky tofu still so popular when it's black and smelly?

In fact, the reason why Changsha stinky tofu is dark and smelly is related to the production process of stinky tofu. When making this kind of stinky tofu, the first step is to soak the tofu blanks in dissolved alum water. The main ingredient of alum is ferrous sulfate, which plays an important role in coloring the stinky tofu as well as producing the special smell. After soaking the tofu blanks for a period of time, people will make a good stinky brine poured in, and then soaked in brine for a period of time, and then placed in a frying pan to dry and seasoning, which is what we eat in general life stinky tofu.

02Stinky tofu was very popular in ancient times

Stinky tofu was actually very popular in ancient times. According to legend, in the eighth year of the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhihe, a scholar who went to the capital to take the examination, failed, so he stayed in the capital to look for another way out, and made some tofu to sell along the street. However, because of the hot weather, some of the stinky tofu that had not been sold in time would be easily spoiled if it was not stored. So Wang Zhihe cut up all the tofu and put it in a salt jar to prevent it from spoiling.

Then Wang Zhihe decided to take the exam again, and forgot about the tofu cubes stored in the salt jar. When his second imperial examination is over, Wang Zhihe suddenly thought of this matter, so he rushed to open the salt tank to see what happened, the results found that these tofu has long become smelly, Wang Zhihe thought that these tofu all have been bad, but he felt a little pity to throw away, try to taste a small piece of to see if you can eat, did not think that these stinking off the tofu to eat up has a particular So Wang Zhihe decided to try to peddle these pickled stinky tofu, and didn't expect it to be a big hit with people.

03What made stinky tofu so popular?

So what made Changsha stinky tofu so popular? People actually have mixed feelings about Changsha Stinky Tofu. Some people think it's unhealthy to eat and are skeptical about the production process involved. But some people think it is a traditional Chinese food and a very nutritious food. First of all, stinky tofu can be popular, not only by its unique appearance and distinctive smell, but also by the "inner" to win, stinky tofu teeth, only really ate stinky tofu people will understand.

Again, although stinky tofu is only a snack, but it contains a high nutritional value, stinky tofu itself is made of soybean grinding, and soybean and tofu contains protein and other trace elements naturally do not need much. In addition, stinky tofu is also the reprocessing of soybeans, and this secondary processing will be more favorable for people to absorb these nutrients. In the process of making stinky tofu, some of the proteins contained in fermented soybeans will be broken down by microorganisms into smaller amino acids, which is very favorable for human absorption. Finally, the fermentation process of stinky tofu will produce some microorganisms, and these microorganisms will also produce some vitamins and other substances, and vitamins for the human body of the importance of natural needless to say.

It can be said that Changsha stinky tofu is a kind of appearance but very worthy of people to taste a kind of snacks, so you have eaten this kind of food? Welcome to leave a message in the comments section.