Is fake tofu also a treasure? It would be a shame not to eat these 5 kinds of fake tofu!

When you search for tofu, you'll often find "fake tofu" that's not tofu, but that doesn't mean they're nutritionally bad.

This article will systematically interpret 6 types of "fake tofu" to see which one is more nutritious. Of course, at the end of the article, we will also tell you which tofu is the most nutritious.

5 of the 6 types of "fake tofu" are worth eating regularly

1

Thousand Layer Tofu

Also known as Chiba tofu , it is made from soy protein as the main raw material and water, starch, oil, salt, sugar, glutamine transaminase, etc. as auxiliary materials. It is loved by the public because of its smooth and chewy taste.

Figure: Chiba Tofu Ingredients

There is no national standard for thousand-sheet tofu at present. The group standard T/CNFIA 108-2018 stipulates: protein content ≥ 8 g/100 g, fat content ≤ 12 g/100 g . From this point of view, the protein and fat content of thousand-sheet tofu is close to that of northern tofu, and it is still quite nutritious. The following is the nutritional composition table of three types of thousand-sheet tofu (as shown in the picture). The protein and fat content of brand 1 and brand 3 meet the group standard requirements, while the protein content of brand 2 is lower than the group standard requirements, and the fat content is higher than the group standard. In addition, the sodium content of brand 1 and brand 3 is also lower than that of brand 2.

Figure: Nutritional composition of brand 1 thousand-sheet tofu

Figure: Nutritional composition of brand 2 thousand-sheet tofu

Figure: Nutritional composition of brand 3 thousand-sheet tofu

So when you buy thousand-layer tofu, it is recommended that you make a horizontal comparison and choose the one with relatively high protein content and relatively low fat and sodium content.

In addition, there are many fine holes on the surface of thousand-layer tofu, which easily absorbs oil. In order to reduce fat intake, be sure to use less oil when cooking.

2

Egg Tofu

Also known as Japanese tofu or egg tofu , it is made with eggs and water as the main ingredients, with salt and coagulant added. You can see that there is no soybean in its ingredients. The reason why it is called tofu is that it tastes as smooth and tender as tofu, but it is more appropriate to call it egg custard.

Its protein content is comparable to that of egg custard, and it can be used as a source of high-quality protein.

Some people will add salt when making egg custard at home, and will drizzle some light soy sauce for seasoning after steaming. Salt is already added to the recipe for egg tofu, but some brands add more salt and some less.

Figure: Nutritional composition of a certain brand of egg tofu

Like the egg tofu above, the sodium content is as high as 871 mg/100 g, which is equivalent to 3.5 g of salt/100 g.

Each 70-gram bag can easily consume 2.45 grams of salt. The Chinese Dietary Guidelines recommend that daily salt intake should be controlled within 5 grams . If you eat such a bag a day, it is very easy to exceed the salt limit for that day.

Therefore, when choosing tamagoyaki tofu, you must choose one with a lower sodium content. In addition, in order to control fat intake, it is best not to fry the tamagoyaki tofu. Adding less salt to make soup or steaming is a more recommended cooking method.

3

Almond Tofu

It is a dessert made from milk, cream, almond powder, condensed milk, corn starch, water, coagulant and white sugar.

Figure: Ingredients list of almond tofu

Figure: Nutritional composition of almond tofu

Like the almond tofu above, the fat content is 7.3 grams/100 grams. If you easily eat a box (150 grams), you will consume 10.95 grams of fat. The Chinese Dietary Guidelines recommend only 25-30 grams of cooking oil per day , so it is easy to exceed the fat intake standard if you eat it as a snack.

In addition, the fat in milk, cream, and condensed milk is mainly saturated fatty acids, so eating them can easily lead to excessive intake of saturated fatty acids, and excessive intake of saturated fatty acids is very unfriendly to cardiovascular health.

Furthermore, the ingredients of almond tofu contain sugar, and some brands even recommend eating it with sugar water, which will increase the intake of added sugar. Therefore, almond tofu is suitable as a snack to satisfy your cravings occasionally .

4

Blood tofu

Blood tofu is a blood product made from the blood of livestock and poultry. It is commonly known as blood tofu in the north and as blood sausage in the south.

The blood tofu on the market mainly contains pig blood and duck blood . Their nutritional advantages are that they are particularly good for iron supplementation and provide the body with high-quality protein .

According to the 6th edition of the Chinese Food Composition Table, the protein content of pig blood and duck blood is similar, but the iron content of duck blood is at least 3.5 times that of pig blood , so if you want to supplement iron, it is recommended that you choose duck blood.

However, the iron content of duck blood and blood tofu on the market varies greatly. This is because the ingredients include duck blood, water and salt. The higher the water and salt content, the lower the iron and protein content. The nutritional label does not require the iron content to be indicated, but the protein content is required to be indicated.

Therefore, when purchasing duck blood, choose the one with high protein content , which basically means that its iron content is also high. For example, the protein content of the first duck blood in the picture below is about 2.6 times that of the second one.

Picture: Duck blood with high protein content

Figure: Duck blood with low protein content

How much duck blood is recommended?

Eat it 2-3 times a month, about 25 grams each time, which is about 2-3 slices for hot pot.

5

Fish Tofu

Fish tofu is made of fish or fish paste as the main ingredients, and starch, soy protein and other auxiliary ingredients. There is currently no national standard for fish tofu. The best fish tofu should be high in protein, low in fat and low in sodium .

None of the 10 hot-selling brands on the market fully meet this requirement. However, the first and second brands in the table below meet the national standard GB 28050-2011 for high protein and low fat, but their sodium content is very high and they are considered high-sodium foods.

However, we can cut the fish tofu into two or four and cook it, so that more salt can be released into the soup, thus reducing the salt intake. Therefore, these two types of fish tofu are recommended in the first tier.

Items 3-6 belong to the second-tier recommendations. Their protein content is ≥10 g/100 g, their fat content is not too high, ≤7.5 g/100 g, and their sodium content is lower than items 1 and 2.

Try to avoid choosing items 7-9 as much as possible because they have a high fat content and no obvious advantage in protein content, especially items 7 and 8.

6

Milk tofu

Most milk tofu is made from skim milk after making milk skin, which is a dairy product obtained by fermenting and draining whey.

Compared with cheese, it has higher protein content and lower fat content. Although its calcium content is not as high as cheese, it is still not low.

Data from the 6th edition of the Chinese Food Composition Table shows that the calcium content of fresh milk tofu is 597 mg/100 g. Eating 25 grams can supplement 150 mg of calcium , making it a highly recommended healthy food.

Summary: Except for almond tofu, the other five types of "fake tofu" are quite nutritious if you choose them right, and I recommend that you eat them often.

What is the most nutritious part of real tofu?

After the soybeans are soaked, pulped, filtered, boiled, and then coagulant is added to solidify the resulting soybean product, which is tofu.

There are many names for tofu on the market, such as wood-fired pot tofu, kapok tofu, tough tofu, tender tofu, and rennet tofu. These tofu are basically divided into three types, namely northern tofu, southern tofu, and rennet tofu .

The reason why lactone tofu is called lactone tofu is because the coagulant is gluconolactone. The packaging will basically be directly marked with lactone tofu, so you can tell at a glance.

As for other tofu, whether it is northern tofu or southern tofu, we can distinguish them by their texture.

Northern tofu has a low moisture content and a rough and hard texture, so it is also called hard tofu or old tofu. In addition, because northern tofu uses brine (the main ingredients are magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and calcium sulfate) as a coagulant, it is also called brine tofu.

Picture: Northern tofu

Southern tofu has a higher moisture content and a finer texture, so it is also called tender tofu; Southern tofu uses gypsum (the main ingredient is calcium sulfate) as a coagulant, so it is also called gypsum tofu.

Photo: Southern tofu

Which of the three types of tofu is the most nutritious? Please see the table below.

From the table, we can see that northern tofu is the most protein-rich, southern tofu is the most calcium-rich , and as for rennet tofu, its protein and calcium content are the lowest among the three types of tofu, so it is recommended to eat northern tofu and southern tofu first.

Planning and production

Source: Nutritionist Gu Chuanling (id: guchuanlingyys)

Editor: Yang Yaping

Proofread by Xu Lai and Lin Lin