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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from China and Taiwan

Stinky tofu (chòu dòufu) — brine-soaked tofu, reference process臭豆腐

Fresh tofu is soaked for minutes to hours in a brine of vegetables and other ingredients that has fermented for a year or more, and takes on its strong smell. It is then deep-fried, steamed or stewed and served with a chilli or garlic dip. Made in 5 steps over 12 months. The longest step, make and keep the brine, takes at least 12 months (Tian H 2023). Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus and Leuconostoc, reported as the core microbes of the brine does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 12 monthsReported[tian2023st][ich1522]Make and keep the brine
Temperature4 °CReported[tian2023st]Keep raw stinky tofu cold
Fully documentedSoy and legumes12 monthsMore soy and legumesMore from ChinaMore from Taiwan

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedTraditional process with no fixed batch size. The brine is kept going for years and only the tofu changes.
Fresh white tofu · In Changsha, blocks 5 × 5 cm and 1 cm thick, made from plump, moist northeastern soybeans[ich1522]
Fermented brine · Shanghai: amaranth and spices fermented for nearly a year. Changsha: fresh winter bamboo shoots, shiitake, perilla and Liuyang douchi simmered in winter water, with qu liquor added[tian2023st][ich1522]
Tea-seed oil, for frying · The Changsha choice[ich1522]
Chilli and garlic dip (to taste)[ich1522]
Starter: back-slop (old brine is kept and topped up); no defined culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 months

Start
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ProteinAmino acidsshapes, not to countEnterococcusLactobacillusLactococcusLeuconostoc

What changes: Vegetables ferment for a year or more into a pungent brine

Step 1 of 5
Make and keep the brine
Time
at least 12 months
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Enterococcus
Lactobacillus
Lactococcus
Leuconostoc

The Changsha brine is best made in winter. Output: stinky brine.

Flavour
intensely sulphurous, faecal-cheesy
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

bacteria in the vegetable mix make proteases and lipases whose products give the smell

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

What makes this one different

Stinky tofu is plain tofu flavoured by soaking in an old fermented brine, so the tofu itself ferments only briefly. Furu and hairy tofu, by contrast, grow mould on the tofu.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Changsha black stinky tofu (Huogongdian)Brine made in winter from fresh winter bamboo shoots, shiitake, perilla and Liuyang douchi, simmered, mixed with qu liquor and fermented in pools for years; white tofu 5 × 5 × 1 cm soaks 2–6 h, is fried in tea-seed oil and served with a chilli-garlic dip. Ink-black outside, white inside. National intangible heritage item 1522 (2021).
  • Shaoxing stinky tofuBrine from mouldy amaranth stalks; fried.
  • Taiwanese stinky tofu (fried, steamed, grilled, mala hot pot)Amaranth-based brine; fried is mildest, steamed most pungent.
  • Sichuan mala stinky tofuStewed in mala broth, not fried.

Safety

Home-made traditional stinky tofu was the food behind 24 of the 80 foodborne botulism outbreaks recorded in China from 2004 to 2020, most of them in Xinjiang households, mainly through improper processing. Buy from controlled producers, keep raw stinky tofu cold, and cook it through.

Hazards the sources name: Clostridium botulinum in home-made traditional stinky tofu (24 of 80 botulism outbreaks in China, 2004–2020).

History and sources

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

Changsha's Huogongdian stinky tofu was first made by a tofu-making Jiang family of Xiangyin in the Tongzhi era of the Qing dynasty; a Jiang descendant began selling it at Huogongdian in 1908.

  1. [ich1522] China national intangible cultural heritage list, item 1522 (Ⅷ-276), Huogongdian stinky tofu craft, 2021gov
  2. [tian2023st] Tian H., Zou L., Li L. et al. (Yuan H.) 2023, Characterisation of the aroma profile and dynamic changes in the flavour of stinky tofu during storage, Foods 12:1410, doi:10.3390/foods12071410paper
  3. [li2022bot] Li H., Guo Y., Tian T. et al. (Fu P.) 2022, Epidemiological analysis of foodborne botulism outbreaks, China, 2004–2020, China CDC Weekly 4(35):788, doi:10.46234/ccdcw2022.114paper
  4. [WP-Stinky tofu] English Wikipedia, Stinky tofu (regional variants)wiki
  5. [ZH-臭豆腐] Chinese Wikipedia, 臭豆腐 (the article carries original-research warnings)wiki