This is almost an existential question.
Can tofu be too tasty?
The answer is:
Yes, it can.
To some people, at least.Here's how we came to this conclusion.
The observation that tofu can be too tasty was one of many discoveries we made at our Second Tofu Tasting earlier this month.
(You can find more details about our First Tofu Tasting here.)
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| Second Tofu Tasting (November 2019) |
Fourteen participants compared seven samples in kinu (soft tofu) category and seven samples in momen (firm tofu) category, and evaluated which they liked most, second most, and if possible, third most. They were also encouraged to add further ranking if they wanted, e.g. tofu they liked least. Identities of the tofu samples were only revealed after everyone submitted their evaluation sheet.
Here are three takeaways from the event:
1. It is possible to produce tofu that tastes like a dessert.
A tofu maker in Tokyo, Tofu Kobo Yuu, makes it. It's delicious. It was the winner of our tasting. |
| とうふ工房ゆう/Tofu Kobo Yuu |
2. However, this dessert-like taste may be too much for some people.
As shocking as it is, some participants found this delicious tofu too sweet."You don't want to eat dessert with your rice every day."
Tofu should be tasteful, but not too tasteful, it seems... The answer to this impossible request - "tasty, but not too tasty" - might be our second-place winner: Tofu Kobo Watanabe. The tofu is delicious but not in the dessert-like way.
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| とうふ工房わたなべ/Tofu Kobo Watanabe |
3. Our local tofu maker in Tsukuba ranked third!
Inamoto-tofuten, our local tofu maker in Tsukuba, finished in the third place. This is great news! It was a nice confirmation of what we, the Inamoto fans, knew all the time: we do have a decent tofu maker in Tsukuba! |
| 稲本豆腐店/Inamoto tofuten |
Yup, these were the three takeaways in a nutshell.
Reminder
Our tofu tasting is not just a pleasant pastime. It is part of a quest for sustainable protein. All three medalists in our tasting had this in common:
1. They all use Japan-produced soy beans (and provide information about the beans variety and the prefecture of origin on their websites).
2. They all use nigari as firming agent.
3. They are small businesses supported by and supporting their local communities.
Of course this is not a rigorous study into sustainability, but I would say they are sustainable. And you can see it in their tofu.
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| Our medalists |
By the way, this is not paid advertisement and the tofu makers mentioned here don't know I'm mentioning them here. Just in case you wondered.
For the tofu geeks, here are the three takeaways, nutshelled above, in more detail:
1. It is possible to produce tofu that tastes like a dessert.
One brand in our line-up stood out for its rich taste:Tokusen kinugoshi 特選絹ごし and Tokusen momen 特選木綿 by Tofu Kobo Yuu とうふ工房ゆう in Ome, Tokyo.
If taste could be compared to a picture, the taste of this tofu was not a sketch, it was a full-fledged oil painting.
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| A sketch taste Copyright: Suu |
An oil painting taste
Copyright: Suu
I should repeat that we are talking about plain tofu, made only of soy beans, water and coagulant (= firming agent, in this case nigari). No added sugar or any other taste enhancer, nothing - and yet, it was sweet and creamy and delicious.
Achieving this amount of sweetness and creaminess solely from the simple combination of soybeans, water and nigari is so remarkable it sounds almost like a magic.
It's no surprise that this tofu won first place not only in our tofu tasting but also in Japan's "National Tofu Contest" (全国とうふ品評会) - gold for kinu in 2017 and for momen in 2018. This means it was basically chosen the No. 1 tofu in Japan.
It is also priced accordingly : 450 yen for a block of kinu, 500 yen for momen. (For comparison, you can buy tofu in a supermarket for about 100 yen.)
It's the most expensive tofu I've ever had.
2. Some people find this amount of taste too much.
It's surprising, but some participants found this tofu too tasteful. They were a minority, but the very fact that this opinion exists is important.
Here are some of the comments I got:
"This tofu is the sweetest of all samples, but it's not the kind I would want to eat every day. I'd grow tired of it."
"It tastes so different that there should be a new category for it. It's not tofu, it's a different food."
Since tofu generally has almost no taste, it's easy to assume that more taste would always be better. On our tofu tasting this assumption got a reality check.
More is not always better, it seems.
But then, the next question is:
How much is just the right amount of taste for tofu?
Tofu that won the second place in our tasting may be the answer.
Second place in both categories went to Shimosato-tofu 霜里豆腐 from Tōfu Kōbō Watanabe とうふ工房わたなべ in Saitama prefecture.
Quite predictably, this tofu also happens to be a medalist in Japan's "National Tofu Contest": gold for kinu and silver for momen in two consequential years: 2018 and 2019.
Maybe Tofu Kobo Watanabe is the golden middle path - tofu was distinctively sweet and creamy and delightful, but more subdued than that of Tōfu Kōbō Yuu. It was delicious but still close to the popular notion of tofu as something that is not too self-assertive.
By the way, it was the second most expensive tofu in our tasting: 320 yen for kinu and 350 yen for momen.
To sum it up, both Tofu Kobo Yuu (first place) and Tofu Kobo Watanabe (second place) were delicious, but Watanabe type may be more appropriate for everyday meals, while Yuu type may be great for special occasions ... and desserts.
3. Our local tofu maker in Tsukuba ranked third!
In our tasting, organic tofu from our local tofu maker in Tsukuba, Inamoto-tofuten 稲本豆腐店 ranked third in both kinu and momen category.
Inamoto-tofuten lost to Tofu Kobo Yuu and Tofu Kobo Watanabe, which is not surprising - those two are Japan's national-level prize winners. However, it ranked better than all the other samples in our line-up. What a great result. I know Mr. Inamoto personally and I'm one of his many fans in Tsukuba. I'm happy that we have a decent tofu here!
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| Second Tofu Tasting Medalists |
Our quest for sustainable tofu continues.