Ch.187Bean-Tofu (2)

The method of making tofu that somehow exists in my memory is divided into two main steps.

First, heating soybeans, grinding them, and then extracting the soy milk that becomes the raw material for tofu.

Second, adding a solidifying agent to this soy milk to harden it into tofu.

And… honestly, that’s all I know. Excluding these two processes, how would a modern person know how to make tofu?

Of course, knowing something is dozens of times better than starting from absolute zero and banging your head against a wall.

But that doesn’t mean building something up from essentially nothing is going to be easy.

To be frank, I don’t properly know anything—it’s all just bits and pieces I’ve heard somewhere—yet I’m trying to make tofu. Wouldn’t it be stranger if this actually worked out easily?

‘…This is going relatively well, at least.’

Fortunately, the first step of extracting soy milk from the beans was progressing quite smoothly.

The soybeans grown in the Western Continent were a unique variety similar to… soybeans with a characteristic greenish-yellow color, and the method of simply boiling and squeezing them was surprisingly aided by Dwarf Magni’s great strength.

“If we do it like this… it works!”

“…Ooooh!”

A soy milk extractor adapted from a manual press used in wine-making from grapes.

He had created equipment that extracted soy milk by manually turning a rotary handle to operate an internal piston.

Especially, the leftover residue after extracting the soy milk… this substance was probably what was called “biji” in my previous life, used for making biji stew.

Although the core nutrients have been extracted and the nutritional value has bottomed out, it’s still an edible solid, and this kind of residue is actually perfect for animal feed.

If I remember correctly, in my previous life, the residue left after extracting soybean oil was used as a core feed for pig farming, so this substance, presumed to be biji, was heading straight to the feed trough.

But while the process of extracting soy milk was going very smoothly, the second step of solidification… was challenging from the start.

As someone who studied sciences but completely avoided chemistry, developing a method to solidify tofu—something anyone would guess falls in the realm of chemistry—left me not even knowing where to begin.

‘Nigari… where would I get that?’

If I remember correctly, the ingredient used to solidify tofu in my previous life was “nigari,” a byproduct from salt flats.

This tofu (soy milk) solidifying agent that remained in my memory—presumably from a field trip to salt flats in my previous life—is, simply put, a special liquid that comes from the process of drying salt at salt flats.

…Of course, we’re nowhere near the sea, and salt is supplied through rock salt mines rather than salt flats, so there’s no way to obtain nigari.

At first, I thought it might be some substance related to salt, but I’ve never once heard that salt goes into tofu as food in my previous life.

So it’s certainly clear that the solidifying agent for tofu must be some kind of chemical substance, but the reality is that I can’t do anything with my power alone, having no knowledge whatsoever in this field.

Therefore, the best I could do was to ask Gretel, who could at least be considered something of an expert, but…

“…I’m sorry. I don’t really know either.”

“Hmm, then there’s nothing to be done. Sorry for troubling you, Gretel.”

At the very moment when the person I was depending on said they didn’t know, I was inwardly sighing at the overwhelming prospect of having to find this method myself, when…

“…Ah. No. I think there is… something. Yes.”

“R-Really…?!”

When Gretel suddenly spoke up after not even considering the problem, I brightened at this unexpectedly extended hope and asked…

“H-Here it is… Jello-powder. A powder that turns liquid into solid.”

“Is it expensive?”

“No. It, um, grows frequently around the forest. You can harvest as much as grows.”

“That’s a relief…!”

A hope that emerged when I was feeling something close to disappointment, not expecting anything at all.

Happily receiving this white powder called jello-powder, I sprinkled it into the soy milk I had prepared earlier…

“…Ohhh.”

A white mass that gradually began to clump in the middle of the soy milk. After scooping out this formation, which resembled soft tofu or silken tofu, and putting it in my mouth…

“It’s tofu, real tofu!”

Though the taste seemed slightly different, it was undeniably tofu. Despite feeling a bit more springy in texture, this was unmistakably what we call tofu.

Especially after scooping out these forming tofu chunks as a test and somehow managing to put them in a mold, although it felt a bit more bouncy, it was definitely something that could be called tofu.

‘…Ah, this is the taste I remember.’

Thanks to this, after lightly blanching it and putting it in my mouth, I shivered with genuine happiness, intoxicated by this sensation I hadn’t experienced in such a long time.

Truly, these were blissfully happy days.

※ ※ ※

After introducing the tofu I had completed through various trials and tribulations to the village, this unfamiliar food became quite a topic of conversation within the community.

No, it didn’t just end at being a topic of conversation… it literally became a trend throughout the entire village.

Of course, tofu is objectively a delicious food, and it provides a novel taste not experienced in the West, so its popularity itself isn’t strange.

When fiddling with soybeans produces a snow-white food with a texture similar to pudding, it’s not surprising that its novelty and creative feel would attract followers.

However… such an “explosive” response was truly unexpected, and if I were to cautiously guess the reason—

‘Is it just superficial trendiness?’

No matter how much I try to find a rational explanation, the fundamental reason for this enthusiastic response might be what’s called “superficial trendiness.”

In fact, most people in this world are less exposed to “stimulation” in terms of entertainment, making them very sensitive to such amusements or pleasures.

Magic performances or monster circuses—these dopamine-filled entertainments are mostly exclusive to the wealthy.

Commoners at best watch simple plays or stimulate their brains by drinking alcohol.

So from their perspective, this food I developed is not only newsworthy in itself, but the stories and various talking points associated with it further heat up the village that already lacks entertainment.

The story quickly spread throughout the village: how I, quite popular in the village, personally created this to prevent wasting unused soybeans, and how I ate it as if I really liked it.

Just as the lower classes might imitate or draw power from upper-class culture, they probably wanted to imitate this dish that I, a person of high status, had developed, made, and praised—rather than genuinely liking tofu.

Given that the original development purpose was to solve my homesickness while consuming problematic soybeans, my decision to openly share the recipe led to some very positive outcomes.

The improved dining situation for villagers increased their support for me, and the supply of an inexpensive yet decent protein source is nothing but positive from a ruler’s perspective.

Additionally, tofu can be preserved long-term by drying it into dried tofu, and the hard, completely dehydrated version is a food(?) solid enough to beat someone to death with.

Until now, the only ways to eat soybeans in the village were simply eating them like vegetables or boiling them down, but my “discovery” of tofu opened a new path for soybeans.

What’s particularly interesting is that after introducing this soybean product, a sudden wave of soybean product creation swept through the village, leading to the invention of processed foods like soy milk that I had somehow forgotten about.

Someone even created something similar to textured soy protein (soy meat) while experimenting, and I actively recommended further research in this direction, leading to significant achievements.

And while the entire village was literally dominated by this “tofu craze”—

‘…What should I do about this?’

As my rest week was coming to an end, I was genuinely concerned about a major problem that had suddenly appeared in the village.

Namely, the shortage of ironware in the village.