Tofu Mold

This is a mold used to shape dubu, or bean curd. In its name, bu (腐 in Chinese) means soft and malleable, while Koreans used the character po (泡 in Chinese) for the same meaning. This is made up of a rectangular mold with carved sections and a plate to press the bean curd. Bean curd can be eaten raw, or cooked in a variety of ways such as in a soup, stew, or fried. The residues, or biji, are also edible in a fermented paste. Bean curd is a food made by extracting protein contained in beans and curding it with mineral salts, often into the shape of a rectangle. Bean curd can be subdivided into several types according to processing methods. It is generally made by boiling beans soaked in water for a day, grinding them into soy milk and curding it, pouring the curded milk on hemp cloth in a mold, putting it against a plate to drain water, and then cutting it after all water is drained. Bean curd was made with a wooden mold in the past, but is made by machinery today.