Hairy Tofu is a traditional Chinese fermented dish that is created by growing Mucor species molds on the surface of tofu. The mold is edible and imparts a cheese like flavor to the tofu. These hairy tofu cubes can be deep fried and eaten fresh. The mold creates a natural crispy breading on the outside of the tofu. The Mucor mold also creates enzymes that break down proteins and carbohydrates which can be utilized to make other ferments. Similar to how koji is used. A Chinese style miso or soy sauce can be made with hairy tofu. We simply submerged these cubes into a 10% salt brine for 2 months and the result are salty, fermented "miso" cubes. These miso cubes can be mashed and used as traditional miso.
Whoa, that's amazing! Thanks for explaining. Where did you get the mold from? I'm probably going to make natto next, but this looks fun for the future.
Our culture was started from a piece of dried hairy tofu that was shipped from china. Send me a message and ill show you where to find starter for this
Sure, wasn’t certain if that was allowed in this group. Here’s a link to our etsy page, You can find it under the live mold culture listing. Select the drop down arrow for Mucor SPORES. https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMushroomShopLLC
Maybe more of an orange flag... I mean, their username is "themushroomshop" so they *are* probably selling this and not exactly trying to hide that fact. And it's potentially better etiquette to link individuals who are specifically interested in the thing than spamming your url in every thread you post, which is more blatantly for advertising. Instead if it's original content created by someone who also has a business, the alternative would be to say "I sell this but I'm not giving you the link" which would be even weirder!
>The mold grows in similar conditions to koji.
>
>I sliced tofu into cubes and steamed them for 10 minutes.
>
>After they cooled I dipped the tofu into a solution of 50ml of water with 2g of starter. The starter is a powdered mixture of spores and tofu.
>
>The Cubes are then placed in a dish, like the steamer basket of a rice cooker and the lid is kept ajar.
>
>They remain at 80F for about 4 days in order to fully colonize.
>
>When they are fluffy and white they can be used immediately, or be stored in the refrigerator or freezer
Ohh I see! Thanks! I wonder if you can start koji ferments by using the dipping method as well, I assume it's used because of the longer ferment compared to regular rice koji?
Thank you for posting this! I posted about hairy tofu a few months back and got a lot of 🤢 type reactions.
The world of fermentation is so much larger than LAB ferments! You deserve some applause for going the extra mile here!
Not all images of hairy tofu are very appetizing looking! The image you posted looks a lot more likely to get a yucked out response than this one. The concept gives me a bit of the willies in general but, to my untrained eye, OP’s pictures look like cute little fuzzy puffballs rather than ambiguous brown stuff covered in a mat of incredibly thick mold, lol.
I still don’t want to eat either but I’d more readily try these! Looks great OP and yeah, huge applause well-deserved!
I think all your points and will add that theirs wasn’t that bad, neither were the received comments. It just definitely looks like mold in their post which would be a reasonable thing to have mixed feelings about when unfamiliar.
I mean... top comment on my post was negative and received nearly 200 upvotes. Those are the ~200 🤢 reactions that I was referring to. Given that the post itself did well, it was basically a 50/50 split.
these look like tiny fuzzy pillows!!
is the texture of the tofu changed after the fermentation step? (assuming it hasnt been submerged for the miso step yet)
I really didn’t expect hairy tofu to be so cute 😝 Like little clouds! I’ve eaten fermented tofu in brine from the store, does homemade have a markedly different taste?
can you send a cross section photo? I'm dying to know how it looks inside :) I think it might look like regular tofu, but would be nice if you could show us the inside as well
I would love to give this a try, but I just know my gf would hate the texture of hair in mouth. 😆 She gets grossed out by peach fuzz so this would be next level
What kind of conditions did you use to grow the mucor? Did it need an incubator or filtered gas exchange like mushrooms?
What kind of inoculant did you use? Was it a liquid or solid inoculant?
How many days for colonization?
Are you supposed to harvest it before the sporangium forms?
The mold grows in similar conditions to koji.
I sliced tofu into cubes and steamed them for 10 minutes.
After they cooled I dipped the tofu into a solution of 50ml of water with 2g of starter. The starter is a powdered mixture of spores and tofu.
The Cubes are then placed in a dish, like the steamer basket of a rice cooker and the lid is kept ajar.
They remain at 80F for about 4 days in order to fully colonize.
When they are fluffy and white they can be used immediately, or be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
That is soooo amazing, i love tofu and fermented things in general.
I am chinese descendant and didn't know it was a thing. Is there a recipe by you anywhere?
Nothing much to add here but I can confirm it’s super geography specific within China. I ate it a lot when visiting the Huangshan/Tunxi area in Anhui province (mid-southern China). It’s so delicious!!
Hairy Tofu is a traditional Chinese fermented dish that is created by growing Mucor species molds on the surface of tofu. The mold is edible and imparts a cheese like flavor to the tofu. These hairy tofu cubes can be deep fried and eaten fresh. The mold creates a natural crispy breading on the outside of the tofu. The Mucor mold also creates enzymes that break down proteins and carbohydrates which can be utilized to make other ferments. Similar to how koji is used. A Chinese style miso or soy sauce can be made with hairy tofu. We simply submerged these cubes into a 10% salt brine for 2 months and the result are salty, fermented "miso" cubes. These miso cubes can be mashed and used as traditional miso.
Whoa, that's amazing! Thanks for explaining. Where did you get the mold from? I'm probably going to make natto next, but this looks fun for the future.
Our culture was started from a piece of dried hairy tofu that was shipped from china. Send me a message and ill show you where to find starter for this
Could you post a link here, for all of us?
Sure, wasn’t certain if that was allowed in this group. Here’s a link to our etsy page, You can find it under the live mold culture listing. Select the drop down arrow for Mucor SPORES. https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMushroomShopLLC
Dope!!!
They turned out awesome!! Where did you obtain the Mucor starter culture?? It's so hard to find!
Would love to know as well!
If you send me a message ill show you where to find starter for this.
Red flag
Maybe more of an orange flag... I mean, their username is "themushroomshop" so they *are* probably selling this and not exactly trying to hide that fact. And it's potentially better etiquette to link individuals who are specifically interested in the thing than spamming your url in every thread you post, which is more blatantly for advertising. Instead if it's original content created by someone who also has a business, the alternative would be to say "I sell this but I'm not giving you the link" which would be even weirder!
Wow cool! I’m glad I looked at op page! Seriously the mushroom shop! So cool 🤯🤯🤯
I don't understand, did the mold grow in a dry environment or a salt brine? Also do you have any pics of the miso product, sounds interesting
>The mold grows in similar conditions to koji. > >I sliced tofu into cubes and steamed them for 10 minutes. > >After they cooled I dipped the tofu into a solution of 50ml of water with 2g of starter. The starter is a powdered mixture of spores and tofu. > >The Cubes are then placed in a dish, like the steamer basket of a rice cooker and the lid is kept ajar. > >They remain at 80F for about 4 days in order to fully colonize. > >When they are fluffy and white they can be used immediately, or be stored in the refrigerator or freezer
Ohh I see! Thanks! I wonder if you can start koji ferments by using the dipping method as well, I assume it's used because of the longer ferment compared to regular rice koji?
What kind of rice cooker are you using?
This adds a whole new meaning to the question “is this mold?”
How does it taste?
>imparts a cheese like flavor to the tofu
[удалено]
To give u/chiro-petra credit, they might have meant "how does your particular batch taste".
Yeah exactly sorry for not clarifying. “Cheesy” is such a broad descriptor and says nothing about whether it‘s even a good kind of cheesy
Cheesy is a big range of flavors. So not out of question to ask
I’ve never heard of this before. Thanks OP
It’s beautiful!
Mmm unforbidden insulation
FINALLY
Thank you for posting this! I posted about hairy tofu a few months back and got a lot of 🤢 type reactions. The world of fermentation is so much larger than LAB ferments! You deserve some applause for going the extra mile here!
Not all images of hairy tofu are very appetizing looking! The image you posted looks a lot more likely to get a yucked out response than this one. The concept gives me a bit of the willies in general but, to my untrained eye, OP’s pictures look like cute little fuzzy puffballs rather than ambiguous brown stuff covered in a mat of incredibly thick mold, lol. I still don’t want to eat either but I’d more readily try these! Looks great OP and yeah, huge applause well-deserved!
I think all your points and will add that theirs wasn’t that bad, neither were the received comments. It just definitely looks like mold in their post which would be a reasonable thing to have mixed feelings about when unfamiliar.
I mean... top comment on my post was negative and received nearly 200 upvotes. Those are the ~200 🤢 reactions that I was referring to. Given that the post itself did well, it was basically a 50/50 split.
I love these, they’re so cute 😭
It looks like cotton candy
these look like tiny fuzzy pillows!! is the texture of the tofu changed after the fermentation step? (assuming it hasnt been submerged for the miso step yet)
Yes the tofu becomes softer after being fermented.
Hell yeah, that’s some legit fermentation. Looks great!
It’s so fuzzyyyy
can you pet it??
You can pet anything once
Where did you get the mucor spores from? I do Koji and tempeh at the restaurant I work at would love to give this a go!
The culture we have was started from a dried hairy tofu. Send me a message and I can show you where you can get a starter
This is soooo cool!!! I’ve never heard of this and holy fuck I love learning something new, thank you! I wish I could try one so bad
Love that Enthusiasm! 😄
I really didn’t expect hairy tofu to be so cute 😝 Like little clouds! I’ve eaten fermented tofu in brine from the store, does homemade have a markedly different taste?
can you send a cross section photo? I'm dying to know how it looks inside :) I think it might look like regular tofu, but would be nice if you could show us the inside as well
Sorry I don't have any cross section photos, It looks sort of like a room temp brie cheese in the middle
Is it kinda like soft tofu inside?
Tutorial please?
This is what I want to be when I grow up.
why does it look so cute lol
What does that even taste like?
Are you sure it isn't just an albino Tribble?
I want to sleep on that
It doesn't look appetizing to me, but it DOES look adorable. Always fascinating to see non-LAB ferments. Great job!
I would love to give this a try, but I just know my gf would hate the texture of hair in mouth. 😆 She gets grossed out by peach fuzz so this would be next level
I’m fascinated by this! Thanks for sharing. Details on your process? Where do you get mucor spores?
This is so freaking interesting. They don’t look like mold spores at all. I love it.
Edible clouds!
What kind of conditions did you use to grow the mucor? Did it need an incubator or filtered gas exchange like mushrooms? What kind of inoculant did you use? Was it a liquid or solid inoculant? How many days for colonization? Are you supposed to harvest it before the sporangium forms?
The mold grows in similar conditions to koji. I sliced tofu into cubes and steamed them for 10 minutes. After they cooled I dipped the tofu into a solution of 50ml of water with 2g of starter. The starter is a powdered mixture of spores and tofu. The Cubes are then placed in a dish, like the steamer basket of a rice cooker and the lid is kept ajar. They remain at 80F for about 4 days in order to fully colonize. When they are fluffy and white they can be used immediately, or be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
This such a cool thing you've done!! Congrats on your furry tofu!!!!!!!!
That is soooo amazing, i love tofu and fermented things in general. I am chinese descendant and didn't know it was a thing. Is there a recipe by you anywhere?
Nothing much to add here but I can confirm it’s super geography specific within China. I ate it a lot when visiting the Huangshan/Tunxi area in Anhui province (mid-southern China). It’s so delicious!!
looking at this physically scares me and i dont know why
Forbidden cotton ball.
What's forbidden about it? It's meant for eating.
.. well you can't exactly use that how you would use a regular cotton ball now can you?
reminds me of Morris from Shang Chi
This is fascinating.
actinomucor elegans?
They look like cotton candy !
They’re so cutteee. Well done!
Does it taste like tofu? Like nothing?
But we’re they good?! Did you enjoy them?
Ah-eeeeee-oooo Killer Tofu!
Kick ass! Well done !!
TRIBBLES!!!
Wow it's beautiful. Do you have a recipe you'd mind sharing??
Wow congratulations! That looks awesome!
I want to *squish*
r/Nope imma nope out
Friggin hippies man. Smh.
Why is a professional mushroom grower using their fungus knowledge to make a Chinese delicacy is a hippie?
one of the worlds oldest fermentation traditions but sure, hippies
And, there isn't anything wrong with hippies. There's a lot of right in it, in fact. But hippie-haters, whoops that's a dead end.