I'm looking for non-soy tofu. The only reason I can tell that soy is selected for tofu is cos it's the most complete protein of the legumes. Protein is not my concern, I eat a varied diet with whole-grains... eating a variety of bean products is more the objective. I can pair a fermented bean product with brown rice to complete the protein, no problem. Just don't wanna eat soy, soy and soy all the time, I just don't think that kind of unvaried diet is nutritious. And I've heard some issues with the N. American supply of soy, the Eastern supply apparantly doesn't have these issues, that was a long time ago and not sure if it's been resolved since. Anyways wanna diversify bean consumption, but I have medical issues that make it challenging and that is with being very anal with my bean prep. I haven't had any luck with a couple of drugs I tried so far. I've been snacking on hummous almost daily for years and still my delicate system have not adjusted to allow me to increase chichpea consumption to more than 1/4 c. But I can gorge on tofu and it doesn't cause me any discomfort, I think the fermented products are the way for me to go. Any products out there, it would be a daunting task to have to make my own. Black bean tofu would be cool
I've seen mock tofu in raw food restauraunts if you can believe that...there might be a recipe online... Tofu is actually a very heavily processed food, not really a health food. I don't think soy is very healthy to begin with
I disagree with this statement. If you know how tofu is made, it is less processed than most cheese. Tofu is one of the best health foods we can use. It has no cholesterol, no fat, low sodium, high protein, can be used a million different ways. Don't know where you got your info, but you need to find other sources that know more. Tofu is made with just three ingredients, soybeans and water, blended together then cooked, separated using a natural coagulant (you can use lemon juice), then the whey is separated, the curd pressed, and you are done. You also get the whey (good soup base) and soybean husks which make great veggie burgers. There's also a delicate lacey stuff that forms on top of the hot soymilk. It's the best part - soy cream! So make it yourself!
Well, I googled. It seems to be an animal protein product made to resemble tofu for ex-vegs. It's the other direction I'm looking at.
why not get the protein from tempeh or seitan? i loooove tofu but mixing it up with seitan now & then is even better
Soy contains trypsin which inhibits protein digestion and assimilation. Soy is estrogenic and thyroid suppressive and inhibits hormonal health significantly...soy oil is also extremely high in omega 6 and 9 fatty acids which create a lot inflammation in the body and becomes completley carcinogenic when it's exposed to any heat. Google "Soy" and the first 2 out 4 top results are about the dangers of soy..the other 2 are soy links to wikipedia which also discuss the dangers. Soy is in my opinion one of the biggest health food myths going and it seems vegetarians are very weary to give this up since they depend so heavily on it. It's entirely possible to be vegetarian without using any soy though, and I've been doing it for over a year now... A great alternative would be hemp seeds as they could easily replace all the so called benefits and uses of soy... including complete absorbable edestin containing protein, omega 3 fats that reduce inflammation and promote nervous system/brain health, and so many more ecological and environmental benefits than soy can offer that it's really ridiculous. Soy is like a joke compared to hemp.. From Wikipedia : "In 1997, about 8% of all soybeans cultivated for the commercial market in the United States were genetically modified. In 2006, the figure was 89%. As with other "Roundup Ready" crops, concern is expressed over damage to biodiversity.[6] However, the RR gene has been bred into so many different soybean cultivars that the genetic modification itself has not resulted in any decline of genetic diversity.[7]" I don't know about you, but round up ready seeds that have been injected with viruses and bacteria to create genetically modified organisms don't seem like a safe food choice if were really seeking optimal health. Even certified organic soy products are questionable because of cross pollination of GM seed pollen that is transferred to so called organic farms.
It's too easy to get too much soy, I wanted to find an alternative to soy. I'll look up recipes for hemp seeds, they're easy to get here. I'll try making my own black bean tofu. When you say blended together do you mean like grind them up in the blender before cooking cos I've never done that before. I cooked soaked beans before but only whole ones, never grinded them up and then cooked them. Many that's the trick I need.
I don't think other beans will react to coagulant salts the way soy will. by replace, think how tofu "replaces" animal protein. It isn't the same, but fills the same purpose (protein). So, with seeds, a grain and seed dish would be the protein component of a dish or meal. and do give seitan (wheat meat) a whirl.
Ok, here's what I stumbled on in my google search: from veg source: Subject: Soy free tofu recipe here.... Date: February 4, 2003 at 6:08 am PST Yeah, you read it right. I just received my new Veggie Life magazine and found this recipe. Burmese Bean Curd (Tohu) 3 cups chickpea flour (also called besan or garbanzo flour) 15 cups water 1 tsp. corn or peanut oil 1/4 tsp. ground tumeric 1 tsp. salt 1. Mix the flour and water together with a wire whisk or egg beater. Let stand overnight, about 12 hours. 2. Next day, strain the mixture, 1/4 at a time, through a thin cloth. Help the mixture through the cloth by stirring and pressing. Scrape out the residue from the cloth and discard it.Let the strained liquid settle for 3 hours. 3. With a soup ladle, carefully remove 6 cups of the liquid from the top of the mixture without disturbing the bottom. Discard the 6 cups liquid you remove. 4. Rub the bottom of a large pot with oil. Pour in *almost* all of the remaining mixture (about 9 cups) and add the tumeric and salt. What remains is a thick chickpea sludge, about 1 cup. Reserve the sludge for next step. 5. Bring to a boil the 9 cups of mixture and cook over moderate heat for 30 minutes, stirring continously. At this time, add the reserved sludge, which will act as a thickening agent, and continue to cook over low heat for 10 minutes more, stirring the thick mixture firmly. Remove pan from heat. 6. Line a 12x4-inch tray (a large loaf pan is good), 3 inches deep, with a clean cotton cloth. Turn out the mixture into this and cool completely, uncovered, overnight. At this stage the tohu is ready and firm enough to slice. ok, not fermented (neither is tofu, really).
Yeah, that's what I was looking for. I eat seitan, now and again. Not fermented, got the info on wiki it was. Oh well, whatever the processing of it is I wanted to replicate that with other beans cos it's so easy to digest. I'll give the chickpea flour recipe a go.
I would say more than 98% of the commercial soybean market doesn't even go to into tofu (mostly oils and animal feed). The few percent that does, is almost all non-gm sourced. Much of that organic. So you can believe that NO roundup was used on the crop, nothing was injected into the seeds. So your only REAL FEAR is from cross pollination, so you're saying that pollen caused your tofu to be unhealthy. Sorry, I'm not buying it. If you have an allergy to soy, that's a whole 'nother subject.
Oooh, yummy! A soy-free non-seitan recipe! Thanks Drumminmama We'll be trying this out... we ALL like chickpeas up here! love, mom
