- People don't get to try tofu that's made the same day.
It's just like, I like to say like fresh bread.
Made the same day, man, it tastes so good.
We just made it probably 30 minutes ago,
an hour ago and give it to the customers that walk in.
We are the oldest active tofu company in America.
We were established in 1911.
From the way that we hand-stir,
to the way the that we get the curds,
to the way that we press it, it is an art form.
I learned the process from Mr. Ota.
He taught me the art of making tofu.
So these are our organic beans, we use non-GMO.
Most of the soybeans are grown in the Midwest.
We actually source them from Ohio.
We like a very high protein bean for our tofu.
We think it makes a better textured tofu.
We need the soak the bean all the way through.
We start soaking them probably even 2:00 to 5:00 pm,
depending on how hot the tap water is.
It maintains the quality of the soybean a lot better
when we soak it for a longer period of time
to slow down that soaking process.
We dump the soybeans into our grinders
and then we grind them up.
Then we put 'em into our pressure cookers,
which we cook to about 210 degrees Celsius
and seven to eight PSI.
We cook it that way to kill all the bacteria.
We feel like that's the best temperature
that it comes out of it.
The pressure cooker is really hot right now.
So it creates a vacuum.
So we suck the next batch in and we add water to the batch.
And we know how much water we're adding to the milk.
It is very hard to get it exactly right.
And to make a set recipe,
the yield of the beans is different.
It grinds different.
The temperature of the water, of the tap water is different.
Whether it's extra firm, medium, firm,
we kind of adjust throughout the day,
our recipe for each tofu batch.
Our tofu is only made with three ingredients.
Our soybeans and our coagulant, which is nigari.
And it's mostly consistent of water.
I feel like in Oregon, it's the best in the country.
With great tasting tap water,
I feel like it really enhances the taste of our tofu.
We have a special bag that catches the okara,
and then we also have a special nylon.
So we double filter the soy milk.
Heads up, scoot back.
I just don't want to spray you guys.
So then we have a presser that presses the bag
to get as much soy milk as can out.
So this is the yuba right here.
Once you make and cook the soy milk,
it forms a layer on the top.
It's like a soy milk skin.
We don't sell yuba here.
But some tofu companies, they do use the yuba.
We're trying to get as much milk as we can.
So that's why we double filter it.
A lot of tofu that you see or buy in the store,
it tastes bland, and that could be a misconception
that all tofu tastes bland.
It should have a really bean-y,
nutty, almost sweet-ish taste.
The way that we do it really makes
the bean flavor kinda standout.
This is okara and it's a byproduct of soy milk,
like the shells of the beans and stuff like that.
People use this in recipes.
It's very high in fiber and has the protein in it.
We actually give most of it actually
to cow feed and livestock.
Hand-stirring is one of the most important steps
in our process.
Nigari is our Japanese coagulant
and it's the magnesium chloride
that's extracted from sea water.
It is a very hard, delicate coagulant to use
just as the sole coagulant.
Through our handmade process,
I feel like we can quality check that.
It allows us to only use the nigari,
which is very hard for mass production.
If you under-stir it, you won't get to yield,
and you won't get the curds right away.
And if you over-stir it,
the water will totally separate from the curds.
So you can kind of see the curds starting to come up.
And that's when I know that it's done.
We let it sit for 15 minutes
and then we'll go to the pressing.
This is kind of the final step to adjust the curds.
I could add more nigari and stir more,
but I am not because I am making a medium tofu.
Our hand-press techniques and process can't be matched
through other large manufacturers.
Yeah, they are bigger curds, so it's a good medium.
So now we are trying to press the water
and form the curds into the tofu that we want.
We pull the cheesecloth to get the water out of the curds.
Handmade tofu, we can kind of control the texture
of the tofu which helps with the taste of the tofu.
So now I'm gonna fold it.
And I'm gonna let that press a little bit
for the first time.
Put it under the air press.
This company was started in 1911.
When the World Wars came along,
they had to go to the Japanese internment camps.
When they came back, they actually still had the building,
and they started, and that was in Chinatown.
When we use our hydraulic presses, when they press,
it's in the center and it kind of goes out,
and it wants to collect within the edges.
We cut the edges a little bit and try to collect
some more curds into the center of the tofu.
Then we fold again.
Add some cheese cloth on the top to collect the water,
put it in the hydraulic press.
Mr. Ota actually still works here.
He's the operations manager.
He comes at like 3:30 in the morning, six days a week,
to help run the whole entire process of making tofu.
His great grandfather that started the company in 1911,
and it's been passed down from generation to generation
until his
ex-wife sold to,
to me.
I grew up in Portland, Oregon, ate Ota tofu all my life,
right, I thought that's what tofu should taste like.
And when I heard that she was thinking
about closing her doors, it was like, man,
I just knew that I had to take it.
I'm very lucky to have Mr. Ota work with me
and alongside with me to try to teach me everything.
I had no idea how to make tofu.
I actually played professional baseball.
The Otas have been great in teaching me every single step
of the process and really trusting in me
to respect the brand and what this stands for.
The curds in the center have
kind of pressed down a little bit.
So this last time I want to make it as tight as I can.
We still have the old pressing levers
that they used to press tofu with back in the old days.
So we got 'em from Japan.
These are at least 50 years old.
These are done pressing now.
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Tofu manufacturers I feel like are moving to the machine,
even in Japan and in Asia.
I really want to preserve the traditional techniques
to making handmade tofu.
It is very labor-intensive, but I feel like it's important.
And you know, I wanna keep this legacy going.
Well, this is our cooling tank.
We always have running water going through this
to clean the tub and also cool the tofu
and gets to the firmness that we can package.
You can see the difference between the medium
and then the extra firm.
You can see it just has a lot of water content.
It's the same amount of curds,
it's just that we press it more and it's more firm.
Every single employee wanted to still work
after the ownership change.
And we have an employee that's worked here over,
I think 40 years.
The previous owner has worked extremely hard,
just watching and job-shadowing her,
she worked 80 plus hours a week for 30 plus years.
Every invoice was hand-written, no website.
So what they did was they just wanted
to make the best product.
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