Freeze tofu? Why?
Before you say "Tofu... gah!" hold on a minute... tofu is one of the most versatile protein foods in the world, and freezing it will give you an entirely new texture to experiment with.
There are several reasons why you might freeze tofu:
- There was too much to eat before the expiry date.
- You hadn't opened it and it was near the expiry date.
- It seemed like a good idea at the time but now you're not so sure.
But did you know that freezing tofu has a very useful feature? It gives it a meatier chewier texture and it will crumble much easier, which makes it great
for making stews or chilies. Be advised, previously frozen tofu won't have the white-ish colour that it had before freezing, it will have a sort of
yellow-ish hue instead, but when mixed with other ingredients it's not noticeable.
There are two options for freezing tofu:
- Remove from the packet, drain, and using kitchen towel dry off the excess water. Cut the tofu block into the portion sizes required, wrap in waxed paper, place in an airtight plastic bag, and freeze.
- Just stick the entire unopened plastic packaged block straight in the freezer. Note: this won't work with tofu that is packaged in cardboard containers.
To defrost tofu:
- Remove from the freezer and leave to thaw naturally.
- Squeeze the defrosted tofu to remove excess water—it will now have a much meatier chewier texture than before freezing.
Either cut the defrosted tofu into chunks or crumble it and use in recipes as required.
If you're interested in more tofu information there is also a tofu food fact page available.
