Is Tofu a Processed Food? (Sort Of, Here’s the Whole Story…)

Quick Answer: Technically speaking, tofu is a processed food because the final product is pressed curd that’s extracted from soy beans. But of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad for you or that it can be placed in the same category as a candy bar or processed meat. Many of the longest living populations enjoy tofu on a regular basis.

Keep reading to learn exactly how it’s made and it’s history and consumption.That way you can make your own decision on how “processed” you should consider it to be.

Further Reading: Is Tofu Raw?

What is a Processed Food?

Technically speaking, every food is processed to some degree, even whole vegetables which could be cut, rinsed, or have wax applied to the skin before hitting the shelves.

That said, it’s probably best to consider processed foods to be a spectrum rather than black and white.

Almost every item you can see on the grocery store shelf starts with a “real” food.The processing can step can be as simple as cooking it and adding seasoning or to using enzymes extracting certain components from the food (think high-fructose corn syrup which turns corn starch into a syrup high in fructose using enzymes).

In the case of tofu, it’s somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.Once you have a look at the processing steps, you’ll see what I mean…

Related Article: How Long Does Tofu Last After Being Cooked?

Tofu Processing Steps

The way tofu is made for consumption can be broken down to an 8-step process.

• Soaking – Making tofu starts with soybeans and first these soybeans must be soaked.The soaking process allows these legumes to expand and soften which makes them easier to make into a tofu block.
• Mashing – Once the soybeans are properly soaked they need to be mashed and made into a slurry.This is basically just a combination of the pulp and liquid that comes out of the soybean. 
• Separating – The pulp is then separated from the liquid and the pulp is shipped off for things like baking or animal feed.
• Coagulating – Have you ever seen things on your tofu ingredients such as: magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride, or nigari?These are curdling agents that allow the liquid soy milk to form into a block of tofu.The process is similar to making cottage cheese (which is why cottage cheese has curds).Except with tofu, the curds are going to be pressed together and meshed in the text step.
• Pressing –Using a large press which applies even pressure on both sides, the tofu is condensed into the block that you’re familiar with.Often times, a large cheese cloth is used as well to prevent the curds from falling or dripping out.You can actually do this process at home yourself if you get one of our best tofu presspicks.
• Cutting – Once it’s pressed the tofu is ready to cut.In a commercial setting, the block is going to be far too big for home use so it’s cut down into manageable blocks for packaging.
• Packaging – The cut block is added to the packaging and it’s sealed in the way that you’re familiar with.
• Pasteurization– For shelf life and safety, the tofu is then exposed to ~180F while it’s still in the package.It’s then chilled and ready to get shipped off to the supermarket shelf.

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Should You Eat Tofu Anyway?

Even though tofu is technically a processed food, there’s really no reasons why you can’t enjoy it anyway.Here are a few seasons why.

• It’s been enjoyed by  Asian cultures for thousands of years and these are some of the longest living populations on the planet including the famous Okinawans.
• Contrary to popular belief, most store-bought tofu is organic and therefore non-GMO.If you’re not sure, just look for organic tofu because it’s virtually the same price.GMO soy is reserved mainly for animal feed.
• It won’t make you more feminine (whether you want to be or not).This myth was started from an isolated incident of a man that drank obscene (way more than you’d ever want) amounts of soy milk per day.The feminizing effects reversed after consumption stopped.

Read Also: How to Store Opened Tofu (3 Easy Steps)

So yes, enjoy your tofu like the millions of others around the world!Just beware of other processed soy products because they are all a little different and some could be drastically worse for you than others.

READ ALSO: If you need cheesecloth in  any of your recipes but can’t find it, you might wanna read my post on where to buy cheesecloth in the grocery store.

Related Article: Is Tofu Supposed to Taste Like Nothing?

Joey Bruno

Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!