Tofu

Often called tofu—its Japanese name—soybean curd is prepared by boiling roasted and crushed soybeans with water, straining out the pulp, and adding a coagulant—usually a natural mineral such as gypsum—to the strained soybean “milk.” The curd is then drained and, depending on the final style, pressed to extract excess water. The process is almost exactly analogous to cheese making.