Tofu made fresh from Soy Beans
Tofu made fresh from Soy Beans
Overview
In this episode, John Daub travels to Daisen in Tottori Prefecture to witness the traditional art of handmade tofu production. Waking up at 4:20 AM, John joins the tofu makers to document the entire process from grinding raw soybeans to pressing the final blocks. The video highlights the labor-intensive method involving boiling, straining, and pressing, all done by hand using water sourced from Mount Daisen.
John emphasizes the exceptional quality of the water, known for its purity and mineral content, which he credits as the secret behind the region's superior tofu. Viewers get an intimate look at the steam-filled workshop, the manual pressing techniques, and the direct sales style where customers line up to buy fresh blocks straight from the maker. The episode captures the texture and taste of freshly made tofu, contrasting it with supermarket varieties, and offers a glimpse into rural Japanese food culture.
Highlights
- 00:00 John introduces the scene in Daisen with processed soybeans boiling at 90°C.
- 00:55 Fresh soy milk is strained from the ground beans.
- 02:09 Manual pressing begins to squeeze water out of the soy milk mixture.
- 04:28 The wooden box design leaves a star pattern on the finished tofu cubes.
- 05:12 Customers line up at 8:30 AM to buy directly from the maker.
- 07:32 John tastes the raw tofu, describing it as silky, smooth, and pudding-like.
- 09:07 John explains he stayed overnight to catch the 4:30 AM start time.
- 11:24 The purity of water from Mount Daisen is revealed as the key ingredient.
- 12:55 Price revealed: 150 yen per block.
- 15:47 John tastes the leftover soy bean fiber (okara).
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction to the tofu making process in Daisen.
- 00:55 Straining the soy milk.
- 02:09 Squeezing out the water manually.
- 03:20 Recap of the morning workflow starting at 4:20 AM.
- 04:28 Examining the wooden molds and raw tofu texture.
- 05:12 Customer sales and traditional direct-to-consumer style.
- 07:32 Tasting session and texture comparison.
- 09:07 Behind the scenes: staying overnight for the shoot.
- 11:24 The role of Mount Daisen water in flavor.
- 12:55 Pricing and pressing weights explanation.
- 15:47 Tasting the leftover bean fiber.
- 16:38 Conclusion and sign-off.
Japan Travel Tips
- Timing: Traditional tofu makers often start very early (around 4:30 AM). Arrive by 8:30 AM to buy fresh blocks directly.
- Location: Daisen, Tottori Prefecture is known for high-quality water and produce.
- Cost: Fresh handmade tofu costs around 150 yen per block (approx. $1.50 USD at time of filming).
- Storage: Fresh tofu without preservatives lasts only a couple of days once opened.
- Access: Staying overnight nearby may be necessary to catch the early production process.
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Daisen (大山): A town and mountain in Tottori Prefecture. Mount Daisen is often called the "Mount Fuji of the West."
- Nabe (鍋): A Japanese cooking pot. John mentions cleaning the nabe used for boiling soy milk.
- Water Quality: In Japan, regional water quality is highly prized. Soft, pure water is essential for delicate foods like tofu and sake.
- Direct Sales: Small-scale producers often sell directly from their workshop (chokubai), fostering community connections.
- Okara: The leftover soy bean fiber described by John is known as okara, often used in cooking or as fertilizer.
Food & Drink Guide
- Tofu (Bean Curd): 07:32 Freshly made, silky, smooth, and delicate. John notes it melts in the mouth and has a natural milky taste. Price: 150 yen/block.
- Soy Milk: 00:55 Strained directly from ground beans, warm and fresh.
- Sukiyaki: 09:07 Mentioned as the dinner John had the night before staying near the workshop.
- Soy Bean Fiber (Okara): 15:47 The leftover pulp after pressing milk. John describes it as crumbly and slightly dry but flavorful.
People
- John Daub: Host. Guides viewers through the process, tastes the products, and explains the cultural context.
- Ryo-san: Tofu maker. Seen operating the straining and pressing equipment.
- Bunkichi: A 5-year-old local child who appears briefly.
- Mugichi: Helper seen assisting with the pressing process.
Key Takeaways
- The quality of water is the most critical factor in making exceptional tofu.
- Traditional handmade tofu has a significantly different texture (silky, melting) compared to mass-produced supermarket tofu.
- Fresh tofu lacks preservatives and should be consumed quickly.
- Rural producers often maintain direct sales relationships with their customers.
- The process is labor-intensive, requiring an early start (4:30 AM) and manual pressing.
Notable Quotes
- 07:32 "This tofu, it's so fresh tasting. I can't even compare it to anything I've ever had before."
- 11:24 "They do make probably the best tofu in Japan, which might make it the best tofu in the world, is because of the purity of the water."
- 13:37 "I like the tofu to be just delicate and soft. And when you put it in your mouth, the tofu just melts there."
- 14:20 "The best water is water that has no taste at all. It's just neutral."
- 05:12 "This is the way tofu was sold decades ago, maybe in the 1960s or 50s or before then."
Related Topics
- Traditional Japanese Crafts
- Regional Specialties of Tottori
- Soybean Products in Japan
- Rural Life in Japan
- Water Quality and Cuisine
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tottori #daisen #tofu #soybeans #traditional-food #handmade #food-process #rural-life #japanese-water #john-daub #fresh-tofu #okara #mount-daisen
Full Transcript
00:00 John Daub: Good morning everybody, I'm here in Daisen and we're taking a look at tofu. We've been up for about three and a half hours and this is all of the processed soybeans. You can see inside, it's boiled until it's about 90 to 92 degrees Celsius and then it's put through this strainer. You can see it coming out. So that's soy milk.
00:55 John Daub: Soy milk, right? Yeah, soy milk. I can see the grains here. Wow, look at all the steam. Next, after we've strained the soy milk, all of the water is squeezed out. You can see Ryo-san is doing that now.
02:09 John Daub: Mugichi's getting in on it. Pull, pull. Wow! Ride it like a horse. And we're trying to get all of the soy milk out of it. Oh! There it is. And then when that's done, this is moved out and the soy milk is put into here and then it's drained even more.
03:20 John Daub: We woke up at around 4:20 in the morning, from grinding the beans, the soybeans. We ground them here and then it comes out of the spigot into the bucket. It's all just white crushed soybeans and milk coming from the water. And the water flows in it with the beans and then is ground up into the bucket. And then we boil it until it's 90 degrees centigrade. So we got lots of wood in there. And now we're cleaning the pot or nabe.
04:28 John Daub: You can see the design is made so you can cut the tofu into cubes. It leaves a star pattern on it. You can see in the finished version some of the pattern in it from the wood box around it. This is what it looks like before it's squeezed. This is what the raw tofu looks like. This is in its purest form. And this is soy milk. It's kind of congealed on the top, but this is from the first batch.
05:12 John Daub: I've been sort of eating and drinking it as we go along. It's been pretty good. But customers have been coming from 8:30. It's now about 9 a.m. Customers line up here and they buy it directly from the person who makes it. I really like that style. This is the way tofu was sold decades ago, maybe in the 1960s or 50s or before then.
05:51 John Daub: You want to see? It's warm. Soy milk. And then we wait about 10 minutes. So we have to wait until it congeals a little bit more. There's a point where the tofu starts to separate from the soy milk. So the soy milk will settle onto the bottom and the tofu will all clump together and start rising to the top. That's the point when you put it into the press and make the final product. And now we're setting up the boxes for that. You can see what the raw tofu looks like.
07:32 John Daub: Yeah, it is really silky, really smooth. It's so delicate, so soft. It's like pudding. But the taste, this is really important. I know some of you have had tofu before, even in Japan at the supermarket. This tofu, it's so fresh tasting. I can't even compare it to anything I've ever had before, because everything, all the beans, everything is made right here. And I'm in Tottori Prefecture at Daisen.
08:07 John Daub: When everything is made on the spot and it's made like this by hand, crushing the beans all the way from getting that raw ingredient to boiling it to this product that you see in the water here. Gosh, the flavor is... I can't even describe it. It's just so... You don't even have to cut it. Just really smooth cuts. Very easy to do. And these are the blocks. This is the size of normal tofu. They're cubes.
09:07 John Daub: And this is where we cooked it, but we're all done. We made it with a fire. So we stoked this up at around 4:30 in the morning. It's been a long morning. Four hours ago. It's 8:30 now. So I'm out here in the countryside. I came here and slept at the house because we were getting up so early. There was no way for me to get here in time. The only way is to stay here.
10:01 John Daub: And we had a really good dinner. It was sukiyaki. This is Bunkichi. He's five years old. So we had dinner and we might have drank a little bit more than we should have. I think we went to bed around 9:45 at night and I got up at 4:20 in the morning. And we were out here starting to make it around 4:40. Gosh, it took about two and a half hours to get to that product of really hard work.
10:53 Bunkichi: I'm five years old.
11:03 John Daub: Five years old. And at 4:30 in the morning, it was just completely dark. Now the typhoon... We had a massive typhoon here a couple of days ago. And it left yesterday morning. And it's still kind of quiet. It's still cloudy though. Be careful!
11:24 John Daub: But one of the reasons why the tofu is so good here... And they do make probably the best tofu in Japan, which might make it the best tofu in the world, is because of the purity of the water. It's all coming from Mount Daisen, which is the highest peak in the area. They call it the Mount Fuji of the West. And all that water that comes down here brings all these minerals to the vegetables, to the land. So the soybeans, they're all sucking up that really pure water. And that's the same water we were using to make it.
12:07 John Daub: Yeah, so it uses a lot of water. All this is coming from the mountain. It's delicious, right? It's delicious. So there's customers coming in and out throughout the morning. I think we had four customers this morning.
12:55 Ryo-san: 150 yen.
12:56 John Daub: 150 yen. So it's about $1.50 for one block. That's a big piece of tofu, too. All handmade here in Daisen. These are the weights that we use to squeeze it out. You don't push it. If you push it, it makes it really firm tofu. So we just let it sit. It doesn't settle naturally. And then it gives it that silky smoothness that makes it really good tofu.
13:37 John Daub: So a lot of people that I know, they like really rubbery tofu. I don't like rubbery tofu. I like the tofu to be just delicate and soft. And when you put it in your mouth, the tofu just melts there. And it takes the flavor of whatever you put it in. But I like to eat it just the way it is. There's a natural taste to tofu. It's really hard to describe. I guess it's a little bit milky. If you've had soy milk, you get an idea of what it tastes like. But it's just so much fresher. I think a lot of it has to do with the water.
14:20 John Daub: The best water is water that has no taste at all. It's just neutral. You drink the water and it's just zero. And that's the kind of water we have here. And that's what makes the tofu really good. I hope you enjoyed this. Tofu doesn't last very long. Once you open it, it's a couple of days and then it goes bad pretty quick. There's no preservatives. Nothing like that with this tofu. It's just tofu.
15:25 John Daub: So I'm going to get back to it. I still have some stuff to film for the show. I was filming all morning for the Only in Nippon episode that's coming up on this. I'm probably going to get to bed really early tonight because I've been up since 4:20. What an experience though. It's really good too.
15:47 John Daub: This is the part where we squeezed out... If I can try it. It's crumbly. It's not bad. It's a little dry. But this is what's left over from the beans after we've pressed out all of the soy milk from it. This is just the fiber from the beans. It's okay. It's still got some of the flavor from the soy milk. But it's a little bit dry.
16:38 John Daub: He didn't wake up for a couple of hours. He got up at like 6:30. We were mostly done by the time that happened. Which is good because it would have made the video harder to film. Alright everybody. I'm going to get back to it. So there you go. There's a little bit of the inside look at how tofu is made. $1.50 for that. Amazing deal. So I'll see you later. I'll do another live stream later on. But thanks for watching. Bye bye.
17:10 John Daub: He doesn't want to say bye. I'll say bye.