College of Food Science and Engineering. China Agricultural University ... Beizhong Han, Robert M.J. Nout & Frans M. Rombouts. INTRODUCTION. Sufu (or ...
Sufu – A Traditional Chinese Fermented Food Beizhong Han, Robert M.J. Nout & Frans M. Rombouts
INTRODUCTION Sufu (or Furu), a traditional Chinese fermented food, is a highly flavored, soft creamy cheese-like product. Sufu is made from soybean and is an easily digested and nutritious protein food. It is a popular side dish e.g., with breakfast rice or steamed-bread. There are many types of sufu in China, in accordance with the starters, manufacturing process, color and flavor of products. For example, sufu is divided into three types according to the color of the product: a white sufu, a red sufu and a grey sufu. M ANUFACTURING PROCESS Sufu is now produced by various traditional processes in different localities of China. Most products are made by a similar principle as shown below. Soybean Soymilk
Soaking
Grinding
Coagulation
Tofu (Doufu )
Pehtze (Pizi )
Filtrate
Pressing
Inoculation
Dicing
Fermentation (2~7d, 12~30°C)
Brine (3~7d)
Maturation
Package
Sufu (Furu )
CHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION From a nutritional point of view, sufu has a higher content of protein-nitrogen than other oriental soybean food. The importance of soybean milk and sufu in the Chinese diet is comparable to the importance of cow’s milk and cheese in the European diet. Component (g/100g Sufu)
Component (mg/100g Sufu)
Moisture
58~70
Calcium
100~230
Crude protein
12~17
Phosphorus
150~300
Crude lipid
8~12
Iron
7~16
Crude fibre
0.2~1.5
Zinc
3~9
Carbohydrate
5~12
Niacin
0.5~1.2
Ash
4~9
Riboflavin
0.13~0.36
Food energy
460~750 (KJ)
VB12
1.7~22 (ug)
Dressing mixture Sufu (Furu ) CONCLUSION
Soymilk
Pehtze (Pizi )
Tufu (Doufu )
Brine
College of Food Science and Engineering China Agricultural University Beijing, 100083 China http://www.cau.edu.cn
Sufu is widely consumed as a relish by Chinese people. Further, it can be used in the same way as cheese. However, sufu is still confined to the conventional process in a variety of ways. Although a pure culture method for preparing sufu has been developed, further studies are still needed to produce a uniform high quality product. If innovations in taste, flavor and product quality are made, it may become more widely popular. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the support by The Graduate School VLAG. References Nout, M. J. R. and Aidoo, K. E. Asian Fungal Fermented Food. In: Osiewacz, H. D. (ed) The Mycota. Vol. X “Industrial Applications.” Wang, R. Z. et al (ed) Sufu Production in China. China Light Industry Press (1998).
Department of Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences Food Microbiology Group Bomenweg 2, Wageningen, The Netherlands http://www.wageningen.ur.nl
