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Soy and legumes from China

Zao furu (wine-lees fermented tofu)糟腐乳

Moulded tofu cubes are salted in a crock for a few days, then buried in the lees left from making rice wine and aged for about two months. The lees take the place of the usual wine-and-salt dressing.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Zao furu itself.

DocumentedSoy and legumes2.1 months

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe only recipe found (Shih 1918, as summarised by Shurtleff and Aoyagi) gives no amounts.
Moulded tofu cakes (pehtze)[sic-ftofu][han2001r]
SaltThe cakes are salted thoroughly before the lees go on[sic-ftofu]
Sake or rice-wine lees (chiu niang)[sic-ftofu]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countMoulds

What changes: White mould grows over the tofu cakes

Step 1 of 3
Grow mould on the tofu cakes
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Output: moulded tofu cakes (pehtze).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

mould covers the tofu

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Moulded tofu cubes are salted in a crock for a few days, then buried in the lees left from making rice wine and aged for about two months. The lees take the place of the usual wine-and-salt dressing. Made in 3 steps over 2.1 months. The longest step, cover with wine lees and age, takes 2 months (Shurtleff W 2004).

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[sic-ftofu]Cover with wine lees and age

What makes this one different

Most furu ripens in a liquid dressing of wine, salt and spices; zao furu is covered with sake lees (chiu niang) instead.

Related ferments

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Shih (1918), writing from Soochow University, described tsao ju fu as one of three kinds of fermented tofu. Wai, who was living in Taiwan in the 1960s, described tsao sufu among the types of fermented tofu he studied (Shurtleff and Aoyagi).

  1. [sic-ftofu] Shurtleff W., Aoyagi A., History of Fermented Tofu, SoyInfo Center (chapter of an unpublished manuscript, 2004), summarising Shih C.Y. 1918, Beans and Bean Productsbook
  2. [han2001r] Han B-Z., Rombouts F.M., Nout M.J. 2001, A Chinese fermented soybean food, International Journal of Food Microbiology 65:1–10 (abstract; sufu types by dressing)paper