Tofu from Rotenturm

When asked how she came to produce tofu in southern Burgenland, she says that she came from Taipei, a huge city, but at some point she had had enough and needed her rest. She visited her sister, who lived in Burgenland, but she soon went back to Taiwan. Shu-Chen, however, stayed. She got a work permit and sold bean sprouts at Konsum. However, this was not enough for her. During a walk, she accidentally discovered soybeans on an estate road, near Güssing. "I thought to myself, aha, that grows here too, and went to the farmers' school in Güssing to find out more." The longing for a piece of home and boredom motivated her to try tofu production.

After a few visits to the old country, she started making tofu in her kitchen. People in the area were skeptical at first. But Chuang didn't give up and offered cooking classes because people kept asking her how to prepare tofu. In the beginning, people from my daughter's school came and doctors. In the meantime, however, farmers have also discovered tofu for themselves. Today, Shu-Chen regularly stands in her small but fine company kitchen and makes fresh tofu. Although Shu-Chen bought a machine years ago, she prefers to make her tofu by hand. With a quantity of ten to twenty kilograms per week, this is still quite feasible.

Twice a week, Chuan Shu-Cheng relies on manual labor in her small company kitchen. Working alone by hand allows her to vary the consistency of the tofu. She gets her soybeans from an organic farmer in Großpetersdorf.

So the soybeans are soaked in water overnight for ten hours. The next day, they are drained, ground and then slowly cooked in the large vat of water. "At least three to four hours," she points out to us "Because otherwise, it quickly becomes sticky." Again and again, the foam that forms on top is skimmed off. After that, the mass gets a testing look and flows into a large pot. Here, water with a special salt is added and then stirred until it has the consistency of curd. When she is satisfied with the consistency, she skims off about a third of the liquid. In the vat remains "okara", this can also be used for cooking or fertilizing. The mass is poured, into the mold lined with cotton cloths, closed with a plastic lid and set aside slightly weighted.

The product in the mold is now fresh tofu, but this can also be used, like curd, for strudels or spreads. When she makes smoked tofu, it has to be pressed longer. For smoking, she takes the tofu to a neighboring farmer. She worked on the herb mixture for the oil-pickled tofu for three years until someone said that it was a typical Burgenland flavor.