Dianjiang Stone-Milled Bean Curd垫江石磨豆花

龚子函

My hometown Danjiang is a small but beautiful county in the northeastof Chongqing. It is famous for a traditional Chinese dessert—DianjiangStone-Milled Bean Curd， also known as Dianjiang Douhua， which has along history dating back to the Ming Dynasty.

Its said that a poor man named Chen Yuanzhi was looking for shelterfrom heavy rain in Dianjiang County. He found a stone mill（ 磨坊） anddecided to take shelter there. He accidentally found some beans， so he usedthe stone mill to grind them into fine paste（ 糨糊）. Chen then mixed thebean paste with water and cooked it over fire. To his surprise， the mixtureturned into a smooth and silky pudding-like thing， which he named “douhua”.He was greeted with fresh fragrance.

Here is one way to make Dianjiang Douhua.First， high-quality beans are soaked in waterfor about 12 hours.Next， grind the soaked beans in a stone mill.It is an essential tool in this process， as it helpsto crush the beans while preserving their naturalflavors and nutrients.After grinding， transfer the resultingsoybean paste to a cloth bag and squeeze out thesoy milk.Then， heat the soy milk in a large pot overlow heat， stirring constantly to prevent burning.When the soy milk reaches a near-boilingpoint， a coagulant（ 凝結剂） such as gypsum（ 石膏 ） or nigari（ 盐卤） is added to curdle the milk.Once the mixture has curdled totally， put itinto the bowl or mold（ 模子）.Finally， before serving， the tofu can betopped with various ingredients like sweetsyrup， brown sugar， or chilly pepper and so on toenhance its flavor.The special taste of Dianjiang Stone MillBean Curd have made it a popular dessert amonglocals and tourists home and abroad. If you cometo my hometown， never fail to taste it.