She Only Cares About Cultivation-Chapter 754: [739] Beast World Farming 49 (Happy New Year)_2

Nowadays, the space was mainly stacked with fresh food, and there were neatly piled up around ten slabs of Blood Tofu—a must-add ingredient for stewing dishes in the winter, so it couldn’t go to waste.

This year’s harvest was exceedingly abundant: buckwheat, soybeans, millet, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cabbages, radishes, lotus roots, and such vegetables flourished under their diligent fertilization, plentiful rainwater, and ample sunlight. You might say their bowls were brimming over.

Among these, what excited her most were the soybeans because she could finally make tofu.

With the soybeans saved from the past two years as a foundation, this year they harvested roughly a thousand jin of soybeans. Not to mention making tofu, even growing bean sprouts and making tofu skin was no problem, and there was soy milk and tofu pudding to further enrich their side dish options, effectively adding many more choices.

Since she intended to add a dish—or even several dishes—to the winter stews, Tangtang definitely couldn’t be neglected. Therefore, the day before, she had soaked over ten jin of soybeans, and started making soy milk to produce tofu the following morning. Once the soy milk was ground, it was time to filter out the bean dregs, which could be done with a cotton cloth that was slightly more open in weave.

Afterward, she poured the soy milk into the big iron pot at home to cook. Skimming off the froth and simmering slowly, there was no need to rush. While cooking, she stirred the soy milk in a circular motion with a large spoon to prevent scorching.

After the soy milk had come to a boil, she withdrew the firewood and then began to add the mother liquid left from refining sea salt by the seaside, the salt crystals that formed at the bottom of the pot. This liquid, also known as a salt brine, can cause proteins to coagulate, hence the term "brine tofu" came to be.

Once the firewood under the soy milk was removed, its temperature naturally started to drop. Following that, she poured in the salt brine, quickly stirring. The movement had to be fast, and after about three to four seconds of stirring, she immediately covered the pot to let it stew. After stewing for twenty minutes, upon lifting the wooden lid, she found that the contents had solidified.

At this point, what she had was the tofu pudding we normally eat. To give cubs and Beastmen a taste of something fresh, she served each of them a big bowl, adding in some fructose she had prepared earlier, for since they hadn’t yet made soy sauce or anything like that, they couldn’t enjoy the savory taste and instead had a Southern-style sweet tofu pudding.

While her family was heartily slurping it up, Tangtang continued with the process, for if one wanted to make tofu, the tofu pudding in the pot needed to be broken up. The finer it was mashed, the more water was released, improving the quality.

Then she placed the mold specifically made for tofu production on top of a perforated strainer and laid down a piece of cotton cloth with good air permeability on it. She had prepared these in advance, as she had been getting ready for this piece of tofu for a whole two years.

She scooped the tofu into the prepared mold, stirring the tofu inside with a shell shovel to remove the excess water.

If one preferred softer, silken tofu, they’d leave in more water. If one preferred firmer tofu, they’d press it more tightly.

Soft tofu was suitable for soup, while firm tofu was ideal for stir-frying.

Generally, one jin of soybeans could produce three jin of tofu. Tangtang used ten jin of soybeans today, thus she made thirty jin of tofu. Actually, there should have been a bit more, but since they had already eaten quite a bit of tofu pudding, and she had made a slab of silken tofu, the final count remained three slabs of tofu, ten jin each, pure white and tender, a sight so appealing it felt precious.

They had enjoyed the tofu pudding immensely, and now the success of the tofu had them completely captivated, swallowing hard with desire.

In fact, Tangtang herself didn’t know how she managed to get the amount of salt brine so right that she succeeded on the first try ("You used to make tofu often before"), not wasting a bit, how marvelous!

"Alright, stop gawking as if you’ve never seen anything like that, I’m about to use this tofu to make you something delicious."

The soft tofu was smooth and tender, so she steamed a large plate of tofu egg custard with it, sprinkling salt and chopped scallions on top to curb their cravings.

She then sliced the firm tofu and fried it. The fried tofu made the stew tastier, and it was also delicious when used in braised dishes.

While she was frying the tofu, the fragrance wafted through the entire yard, drawing envious glances from the Beastmen of other households.

"What delicious food is the Goddess making again? How can it smell so good?"

"No matter how good it smells, it’s not your turn to eat it. Come in and have your meal. Just sitting on the kang and having rice and meat already surpasses our past by so much, so don’t even think about the rest!"