Why are so few people making tofu in rural areas now?

Thanks to Little Wukong for the invitation.

The three major hardships in life are boating, blacksmithing and making tofu.

I live in a rural area, and there are indispensable tofu makers around me. Especially in winter, tofu is a must-have dish at noon every day. The tofu here at home is also more particular. It is made with physalis water, not lime in modern techniques. Especially the freshly made tofu that has not been soaked in water is fresh and sweet, soft and glutinous, and melts in your mouth. It also has the bean flavor of the tofu itself, and you won't want to exchange it for an oyster.

So why are there fewer people making tofu?

Making tofu itself ranks at the top of the three major sufferings, and it is by no means an unfounded reputation. Every Chinese New Year, rural families would make their own tofu, which allowed me to understand the process of making tofu. The first thing is to pull the beans. This is now a machine. Just add water and beans into the machine and beat them in half. This is called pulled bean yellow. Next, boil the soybeans, pour the slurry into the pot and start boiling until a large pot full of water is boiled. Then filter the bean dregs to filter out the bean dregs in the soy milk. The bean dregs are a good feed for pigs. The last and most important step is to order the tofu. This requires controlling the heat, the amount of physalis, and the temperature. The tofu after ordering is tofu curd, which is placed in a special mold to filter out the water, which is what we call tofu cubes.

Traditional pulled bean yellow

Straining bean dregs

Beating tofu

Are you already feeling dizzy just listening to these processes? The average peasant woman in the countryside needs a good body if she wants to make tofu. Usually two people make it. In my house, we usually make 4 pots of tofu a day, and the best ones sell 6.7 pots of tofu a day. This is quite time-consuming. An aunt who makes tofu once complained to my mother that her biggest wish in this life is to have a good sleep during the Chinese New Year, and the tofu shop does not need to be open only during the Chinese New Year.

The reason why fewer and fewer people don’t make tofu is because they are tired.

My neighbor has been making tofu all his life. Now that he is old, he only makes one pot of traditional tofu a day and the neighbors eat it. He earned millions by making tofu and built a small western-style house. Another tofu maker I know moved down from the mountains and worked hard to make tofu. After more than ten years, he bought a house and a car. But you can bear the pain.

Another reason is the advancement of science and technology. Today's steam-ordered tofu is all made by machines, but the tofu is not delicious and is sold to large supermarkets for urbanites to buy. Traditional tofu does not have such a large shipment volume.

Finally, the younger generation no longer wants to suffer this hardship. I have never seen a tofu maker let their children do this.

Perhaps the traditional tofu industry will slowly wither away like many ancient methods, or even withdraw from the social stage. A few decades from now, it may be difficult to have a hot bite of sweet tofu.

Making tofu is a piece of cake for people in our rural areas. Female comrades in every household can do it. However, those who stay at home in rural areas are mostly old people. The old people know that their children will come back during the New Year, so they I don’t make tofu because: ① Many old people don’t know how to use a paddle machine, ② Even old people can’t grind many beans with a stone grinder, ③ Today’s food is plentiful, and tofu is not a popular dish, and tofu is still used when visiting relatives and friends. .

Before going out to work, our local rural people were farming. After harvesting soybeans, they would grind soy milk and make tofu. Before the busy season, they would grind tofu to make dried tofu. Every family would grind tofu every day during the New Year. Use a stone mill to grind a few barrels of soy milk, use a pot to boil the soy milk, filter out the bean dregs with gauze, add brine to clear it, make a large pot of white tofu curds, fill it with tofu and press it, and the Chinese New Year tofu is ready . Nowadays, we buy a lot of rich vegetables from the supermarket during the Chinese New Year, so there are relatively fewer people making tofu.

Yes, in the past, rural areas had to make tofu by themselves during the Chinese New Year, and families with a small population also had to work together to make tofu. There are really fewer people making tofu by themselves now, and the reasons are related to the following:

1. Nowadays, people who make tofu are all professionals, and it is more convenient for people to eat tofu. They can buy it anytime. .

2. There are fewer soybeans in rural areas now. If you want to make your own tofu, you have to buy soybeans, which is troublesome.

3. In the past, the vegetables that people ate during the Chinese New Year were mainly cabbage, radish and potatoes, and more tofu dishes.

Nowadays, people have more vegetables to eat, and it takes about 20 kilograms of soybeans to make one tofu, and more than 100 pieces of soybean tofu are produced, which is not edible at all and many of them are spoiled.

The above is the reason why people rarely make tofu. Personal opinions, welcome to discuss. Thank you

In the 1980s, before the Chinese New Year in rural areas, in many places, every household needed to make tofu by themselves. Even if they didn't make it themselves, they would exchange grain for some tofu and store it before the New Year. But now this custom is disappearing day by day. Why?

Why did rural areas make their own tofu in the past years?

To know why this custom is disappearing day by day, we must first analyze why this custom exists.

1. When visiting relatives, you need to prepare entertainment materials

The Chinese New Year is a big event, especially in rural areas, where it is particularly grand. On the one hand, tourists who are away from home will go home to celebrate the New Year, and on the other hand, relatives of all sizes at home will visit each other during the New Year.

Every household has to prepare some meals to entertain these relatives. Tofu used to be a popular dish in rural areas (fried tofu dumplings). Moreover, if your own family members eat cabbage and tofu soup, it is also a good idea. Convenient, so you need to prepare some in advance.

2. Markets are closed during the Chinese New Year, and materials need to be prepared in advance

In the past, the purchase and sale of daily necessities in rural areas generally went through rural markets, and they were mobile markets. Trade market, that is, rural market.

Usually there is a market every five days. The nearest market has six major markets a month. During the spring visit, the market is closed. When I was a child, there was a long-established custom in my hometown that businesses in rural areas usually did not open until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

There are very few markets that open before the 15th day of the lunar month, but this period happens to be the most frequent period when relatives in rural areas visit and entertain. In order to prevent housewives from having nothing to eat, they prepare supplies in advance.

Tofu is one of them. Some families will make some for the Chinese New Year. In the past, there were stone mills in rural areas, and soybeans were grown in one's own fields. Grinding tofu by yourself would save money!

Even if you don’t do it, you will buy it in advance and store it, otherwise there will be no collection after the new year and you will have nowhere to buy it!

In fact, it’s not just tofu. In addition to tofu, people also prepare a lot of food, including various meats, fish, vegetables, and even steamed buns and fried goods...

Why do rural areas Few people make tofu now?

Most of the above-mentioned scenes of Chinese New Year in rural areas in the 1980s and 1990s and before. Slowly, with the improvement of rural living conditions, many customs have changed.

For example, my hometown used to cook meat in a big pot during the Chinese New Year. In order to save money, some people kill their own pigs, usually sharing one pig among two or three families; they also steam steamed buns and put them in big bags after steaming; they grind ten pounds of beans themselves to make tofu...

Nowadays, during the Chinese New Year in rural areas, these things are rarely done. Why?

1. The dining table is rich, and tofu is not mainstream

As living conditions in rural areas have improved, the dining table has also become richer. Dishes that I was reluctant to eat in the past have become common dishes on the table. Cabbage stewed with tofu is not eaten as frequently as before. Relatively less is needed, so there is no need to cook as much.

2. Convenient purchase

Nowadays, in addition to the markets, shops in rural towns are open almost every day. It is very convenient to buy vegetables and shopping, and people do not need to Stock up on food in advance.

If you want to eat tofu, just go to the vegetable store and buy it. It is available on the morning of New Year’s Eve and the afternoon of New Year’s Day. It is extremely convenient and the price is affordable.

3. Making it yourself is troublesome

Relatively speaking, making tofu yourself is a troublesome thing. In the past, making tofu in rural areas was an old technique. The soybeans were ground with a stone mill, filtered through gauze, and the soy milk was boiled in a large pot. Then the tofu was ordered (using brine or gypsum). It took a long time to make more than ten kilograms of tofu.

This is not as convenient as buying it. Besides, stone grinding is no longer needed for making tofu in rural areas. Electric grinding is fast and good, and the process of making tofu has been improved long ago. There is no need for farmers to prepare these things themselves just for a piece of tofu. It is better to eat ready-made food.

The technology of making tofu has changed, the living conditions in rural areas have improved, the lifestyle has gradually changed, and many customs have gradually disappeared. Years ago, making tofu was rare in many places.

However, in my hometown, some people will still buy a few more pieces of tofu before the New Year. For no reason, they just like to eat the tofu from this place! The tofu from which place is so good is naturally made by my father. He is seventy years old. He likes to make tofu in winter and sells it on the streets. He is so busy that he can't stop!

The strong New Year flavor of the past New Year was created by the hands of the old people. Entering the twelfth lunar month, the family begins to prepare for the New Year. First, go to the market and go to the shop to grind rice and noodles. Purchase and prepare things for the New Year. Then kill pigs and sheep. After the twelfth lunar month, every family brews a jar of old wine. There are various kinds of food including steaming, cooking, frying and roasting. The variety is quite rich. As New Year’s Eve approaches, I will make two tofu at home. On the day when I make tofu, I can always eat the original tofu brain with a beany smell. I think it's really delicious.

Here are the answers:

Let’s talk about making tofu first, and then talk about why few people in rural areas make tofu now.

1. Making tofu

I grew up in a rural area in northeastern Liaoning and western Liaoning. There are several festivals where you must make tofu, namely the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month (Lantern Festival). , February 2, May Festival (Dragon Boat Festival), August Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival). Introduce the most traditional way to make tofu:

1. Select beans: remove impurities from the soybeans (small pebbles, small lumps, platycodon and bean pod skins mixed into the beans, etc., or manually select or sift or

2. "Broken" beans: Crush the selected beans with a stone roller, and separate the bean skin from the watercress;

3. Remove the bean skin: use a dustpan Separate the watercress in the broken beans from the bean skin;

4. Soak the beans: Put the washed watercress in a container, and first put in well water (warm water in winter) that is about the same weight as the beans. ), then pour in the watercress and stir while pouring. It is best to use a rolling pin for stirring. After stirring well, add well water until it is about 200mm above the watercress. If you use a container made of ceramic or earthenware basin, insert the rolling pin in the middle (vertically) to prevent the container from bursting;

5. Grind the beans: Use a stone mill to grind the soaked watercress into a soy milk foam (it takes one night in winter and shorter in summer, do not take too long to prevent the watercress from fermenting);

6. Boil water: grind the beans Do this at the same time, the amount is about 4 times the weight of the beans;

7. Make soy milk foam: Place the ground soy milk foam in a vat, add boiling hot water, and stir while adding water;

8. Packing: Use a professional filter cloth similar to gauze to filter the brewed soy milk. The bottom of the bag is raw soy milk, and the top of the bag is bean dregs;

9. Boil soy milk: Put the bottom of the pot Apply a thin layer of soybean oil, pour in raw soy milk and simmer. Be sure to use low heat and stir while simmering to prevent "burning". At the same time, it also prevents the pot from "squirting". During the cooking process, place a little raw soy milk next to the pot. If you find that the pot "squirts", add the raw soy milk. When the raw soy milk is cooked, cover the pot and wait for 15- After 30 minutes, the cooked soy milk will come out of the pot.

10. Add the brine: Pour the cooked soy milk into the vat and add the brine. (The brine is purchased at a spice store. It is highly toxic, so keep it with care.) This process is a key process for the quality of tofu. Add slowly, stirring while adding, until it becomes tofu curd;

11. Pressing and molding: After pouring the tofu curd into the mold, add a water basin and add water to increase the weight, and then keep the pressure for 20~30 Minutes;

12. Segmentation: Use a small and thin knife to split the pressed tofu as needed to become "white and tender" tofu.

2. Why no one makes tofu

The above 12 steps are traditional methods, but now some steps have been simplified or omitted. According to the current situation in rural areas, there are not that many manpower, and there are not that many people to eat that much tofu. Let the tedious things be done by professionals. Although professional work is not as "original", it is more convenient. I think of an ancient proverb as my concluding sentence: "You can't have your cake and eat it too...".

Why do so few people make tofu in rural areas now?

In fact, making tofu is still common in rural areas, but let’s talk about it in detail. Generally speaking, few people make tofu. Why?

Selling tofu makes no money.

For selling tofu, the profit is very small. In addition, the cost is relatively high, so many people don’t make tofu now, mostly because of this reason.

After all, when there are many things to do, but other things can earn a higher profit than doing them, many people will give up on industries with lower profits.

Selling tofu is indeed not profitable. We have also made statistics here. More than ten years ago, there were two or three households in our village selling tofu. But in the past two years, it seems that only one household is selling tofu. In fact, they are raising pigs. Selling tofu is only one aspect, and they can feed the pigs the leftover residue from making tofu.

Food is abundant.

Nowadays, vegetable foods are relatively abundant, so tofu is no longer the most commonly consumed vegetable product by people.

In the past, vegetables were not the most commonly consumed products, so tofu replaced the delicious food.

People’s lives are better now. We are selective in the food we eat every day and are able to eat a lot more meat.

So in this case, pay-as-you-go is not a food often eaten in rural areas, so the number of people making tofu has gradually decreased.

In the past, handmade and modern machine production

The tofu made now is indeed not delicious. The handmade tofu in the past is indeed delicious, but compared to the tofu made now, it is indeed not. It's delicious.

We don’t know whether the tofu we eat now is water tofu from the south or tofu from the north.

Tofu in the south is generally smaller, while tofu in the north is larger. So the taste is also different. The tofu in the south tastes more delicate, while the tofu in the north tastes rougher.

But now most shopping malls use mechanical production and manual production, which is rarely seen anymore.

If the demand is not large, there will be fewer people doing it.

It is the same for any industry, but when the demand is not large, the number of people working in this industry will gradually decrease.

Just like this tofu, given that the current demand is not very large, it is normal for the number of people making tofu to gradually decrease.

During the update iteration, some industries will disappear. Many industries are the same. With the development of time, when the demand gradually decreases, naturally the entire industry will gradually decrease or disappear over time.

There are several reasons why this happens. First, making tofu is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and the profit is low. Making two plates of tofu requires about 20 to 30 pounds of beans, from grinding to boiling to shaping. It takes a day to hawk, and you can earn seventy or eighty yuan. Second, the paddle machine replaces the heavy stone grinder. Although it saves some man-hours, the quality of the ground paddle is poor and rough, and the taste is not good. Third, as the saying goes, when you order tofu with brine, you will lose something. The tofu made with brine has a delicate texture and a strong bean aroma, but the dosage is difficult to control. If the amount of brine is too small, the tofu will not be formed. If the amount of brine is too much, the tofu will have a different texture. Bitter feeling, this technology is on the verge of being lost. Therefore, gypsum is now used to order tofu instead of brine. The tofu made with gypsum no longer has the rich bean flavor, and the taste is not good, which is not recognized by diners and is not easy to sell.

Why do so few people in rural areas make tofu now?

Making tofu is an ancient and practical craft. I remember that in the past, that is, in the 1960s and 1970s, in our countryside we would make tofu before the twelfth lunar month. At that time, before the new year Making tofu, pressing oil, making vermicelli, butchering pigs, etc. are all necessary tasks to prepare for the New Year. Later, these tasks gradually became less and less, especially making tofu became even less common. What's the reason? According to my observations, the main points are as follows:

First, the raw materials for making tofu are scarce or even gone. The crops currently grown in rural areas are mainly grain crops, vegetables and some oil crops, and then fruit trees. There are indeed not many or no soybeans (we call them soybeans) in rural areas. Soybeans, the raw material for making tofu, are not available. How to make tofu.

Second, there are fewer craftsmen making tofu. Although making tofu is not difficult, it is still a craft.

As time goes by, people who can make tofu gradually grow old or pass away. Now there are not many people in rural areas who can make tofu. , young people basically don’t know how to make tofu.

Third, people naturally don’t make tofu for convenience.

The current situation is that if rural people want to eat tofu, they buy it in the market. It is simple, convenient and rich.

Furthermore, the population living in rural areas is relatively small, so you can just buy a small amount of tofu, and there is no need to make your own tofu.

Fourth, people’s food is diversified and more abundant, and tofu is no longer a necessary food. In the past, rural people had to prepare delicious basic ingredients such as tofu, eggs, meat, oil, vermicelli, etc. to celebrate the New Year. Nowadays, all kinds of food are abundant and you can buy them as long as you have money. Tofu is just one of them.

According to my observation, due to the above reasons, few people in rural areas make tofu now.

It is true that there are not many people making tofu in rural areas now. What is the reason?

Making tofu seems simple but is not easy to make. As the saying goes, "It is easier to look at flowers than to embroider." It is not an exaggeration to describe it. My uncle's family makes tofu. I and I Let’s briefly talk about how he did it

First of all, you have to grind the soybeans in advance. I remember that when I was young, we used donkeys to grind beans. To be honest, this process is really too grinding. It's very slow. Fortunately, his family has now bought an electric grinder, which is much more convenient.

Because it was a small tofu house in the countryside, he did not hire anyone and he did it all by himself. Most of the time he would start lighting a fire when he got up in the middle of the night. He had a large firebox at home with a caliber of about two meters. Pot, to be honest, this is the first time I have seen such a big pot. After putting the water in, it takes a lot of effort to heat the water, boil the ground beans, and filter out the residue. The most important thing is When ordering tofu, as the saying goes, "Order tofu with brine - one thing reduces one thing." The most important thing when ordering tofu is the temperature and the amount of brine. What is precipitated is the bean curd, which is placed on the filter cloth and placed in a square mold. This process seems simple, but it is very time-consuming and energy-consuming. Most people cannot bear this kind of bitterness.

Especially when winter comes here in the northeast of my home, every family will save a few pieces of frozen tofu, so tofu is easier to buy in the countryside in winter. However, because my uncle is old, I can't do much, just sell it in my village for about fifty yuan to make some pocket money.

With the advancement of science and technology, many large-scale soy products factories now use gypsum to make tofu, and many procedures are done by machines instead of manual labor. To be honest, these are not delicious. Basically, it has been digested in the city. Young people are not willing to do the traditional crafts in small rural workshops. They are all old people in their 50s who are barely making ends meet to earn some pocket money!

Making tofu in rural areas, one is that this industry is very difficult, and the other is that there are very few people who can make tofu using traditional techniques. Young people in rural areas will not touch this industry at all!