Caishiji Pressed Tofu 采石矶茶干

Caishiji Pressed Tofu (采石矶茶干) is a pressed bean curd with a soy-red colour, made in Ma'anshan (马鞍山), Anhui. It carries the name of Caishi Rock (采石矶), a large rock in the Yangtze at Ma'anshan. Its origins are dated to 1796, in the Jiaqing reign (嘉庆) of the Qing dynasty, which gives it more than 200 years of history.

How it is made

Production starts from ordinary yellow soybeans and runs through several dozen steps, among them setting the soy milk with a coagulant (点卤), shaping, wrapping and pressing. At the Caishiji works in the Yushan Economic Development Zone (雨山经开区) of Ma'anshan, sauce is sun-dried and the curd is made up into wrapped bean-curd packs before it goes under the press.

Flavour and texture

The finished pieces are a deep soy-sauce red and smell strongly of fermented sauce. Chewed slowly, they give a long-lasting flavour and a lingering aftertaste.

How it is eaten

People in Ma'anshan eat Caishiji Pressed Tofu as a snack with liquor or with tea, and take it as a gift when visiting friends and relatives. Shops selling it are found along streets and lanes across the city.

Where it comes from

The making technique became a Ma'anshan municipal intangible cultural heritage item in 2012. In 2017 the Caishiji pressed tofu making technique (采石矶茶干制作技艺), put forward by Yushan District (雨山区), entered Anhui's fifth list of provincial intangible cultural heritage. The producer, Ma'anshan Caishiji Food Co. (马鞍山市采石矶食品有限公司), was described in 2015 as the only company in the city holding the 'China Time-honored Brand' (中华老字号) title.