Tofu 101

I remember before I was vegetarian when people would talk about tofu, I would turn my head, probably stick out my tongue, and say 'gross'. I know - really mature. You may have done that when you read the title of this post. But, guys, I swear, tofu can be delicious if you make it right! Tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you put it with. But, it can only take on that flavor if you get as much water as possible out of it. 

Tofu is also known as bean curd. It is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the curds into a block. There are different types of tofu including extra firm, firm, and silken. The only difference between these types of tofu is the amount of water in the product (extra firm has the least amount of water, silken has the most). The only type of tofu that is low FODMAP is extra firm tofu. Luckily, it's the tofu I almost always choose for my recipes. Extra firm tofu is lower in fructans because fructans are water soluble and firm tofu has less water than silken! Make sense?

Tofu is a good source of protein, low in saturated fat, and gluten free. Like I mentioned before, it's important to get the maximum amount of water out of tofu before you use it. Here are my best instructions on how to do this:

1. Drain the water from the packaged tofu.
2. Remove the tofu block from the package and cut into three pieces. It should look like the photo below.
3. Lay a kitchen towel on a baking sheet and then place the three slices of tofu onto that baking sheet an towel.
4. Cover the tofu pieces with another kitchen towel and place something very heavy on it (I usually put my cast iron skillet on top of it).
5. Let it sit like that for at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours.
6. Once the tofu is pressed, dice it up in to cubes and it is ready to use in a recipe.