An Dong villagers used to be very well-known all over the southern region of Hoai Nhon suburban district for their traditional job of making firm tofu and soft tofu, the plain but nutritious dishes. The village of An Dong nowadays no longer bustles with the tofu making but the food made by coagulating soy milk is still the main source of income generation for the villagers.
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Tofu is frugal but nutritious kind of dish
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To sit up late and get up early
An Dong village, division 1, Bong Son town, Hoai Nhon district locates in the eastern part of the National Railway, where Bong Son town is adjacent to Hoai Xuan commune. The traditional job of tofu making in An Dong village has an over-100-year-old history. According to the village elders, an inhabitant of Truong family settled at An Dong village and taught the local people how to make tofu. At present, tofu making is one of very few available traditional jobs which stably exist in Bong Son with more than 20 households are pursuing it.
Steps of tofu making nowadays doesn’t change much in comparison with the procedure in the past. The only difference is the fact that modern grinding machines replace millstones in some families. At day time, the tofu makers are busy with material preparation. At midnight, they hastily light a fire, boil soya milk and form the tofu, etc. The task is repetitive all year round, creating an unnatural biological clock among the village tofu makers who are able to sit up late and get up early.
We visited house of Mr. Dang Quang Binh at cell 10, division 1, Bong Son at 3a.m. to witness the steps of making firm tofu. When we arrived, he had already made 2 batches of the tofu and was about to make the third batch. At our surprise, he explained: “Every the 1st and the 15th days of the lunar months or in major events of Buddhism, we even have to start our jobs at 12p.m.”
Everyday, Ms. Nguyen Thi Than, 48, who live at cell 10, prepares about 15 kilograms of soya bean to make about 10 molds of tofu (each mold has 36 pieces). Price of one mold is 36,000 VND. After deducting the cost, she gains nearly 120,000 VND of interest. Those who are familiar suppliers of pagodas, Buddhist temples or vegetarian restaurants process 50-60 kilograms of soya beans, benefiting 300,000-400,000 VND.
It is notable that the village tofu makers don’t unfairly compete together. That’s the reason why their products rarely become abundant and unsold.
Passionate commitment to the traditional job
Hard tofu making is meticulous and strenuous work. In order to make the fine tofu which neither too friable nor too tough, the makers must be highly skilled and knowledgeable about know-how which are secretly handed down from generation to generation in their own families. Mr. Dang Bon, nearly 80, revealed: “The grinding machine helps our work faster but it doesn’t grind completely the soya beans. The finished products are loose because it is impossible to press out the whole starch out of the soya mixture. If we use the millstone, the firm tofu will be solid, white, smooth and medium-hard.”
In order to make qualified and high- yield interest products, the village tofu makers just use soya beans from domestic provinces of Lang Son, Cao Bang, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, etc. The domestic beans are small, hard and starchy. The finished products are, thus, firm, dried and don’t turn sour over night. The tofu molds must be made from jack smith wood which isn’t flexible and cracked as temperature changes. White, thin loose woven cheese cloth which can stand high temperature and easily let the water out should be employed to filter the starch.
One of the know-how in tofu making is ways of mixing the prepared coagulant solution into the soya milk to make the curds of tofu hard quickly after the boiling. According to Mr. Bon, it is remaining water at salt fields after salt crystallization that makes the soya milk to quickly precipitate into curds and make the finished products firm and tasty. Every salt making season, the tofu makers of An Dong village make their way to De Gi (Phu Cat district), My Thanh (Phu My district) to buy the salt water as reserve for all year round usage. Each household buys 10-15 cans (each can hold 20 liters).
“An Dong village has several families such as Dang, Truong and Vo who have been making firm tofu for a long time. Generations of the families have been making the firm tofu now. Other small households make soft tofu, fermented tofu, soya sauce, soya milk, etc.”, said leader of Division 1, Bong Son town - Mr. Tran Duc Huy.
Dang Quang Binh, 72, keeps on making tofu like his ancestors. The veteran tofu maker of An Dong village said that the job still exist until now thanks to the diligence of An Dong generations. Beside the farm work jobs, the tofu making has been the main source of income generation for the villagers. Although it is a hard-working job, the tofu makers can earn enough for their livings and afford to send their children to school.
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