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TORFU
A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE WONDER FOOD TORFU THE WONDER FOOD We’ve adopted many Oriental foods in this country, mostly sauces and flavourings, and used them in our own Western ways of cooking, but perhaps the most nutritious and adaptable is Soya bean curd, popularly known as TORFU. The Soya bean is the richest natural vegetable food known to man, and when made into TORFU using a process similar to making cheese, it becomes the most flexible of foods. TORFU – THEN AND NOW It was the Chinese, some 2,000 years ago who recognised the humble Soya bean as a wonderfood. Chinese scholars attribute the development of TORFU to a Taoist prince of the fabled Han dynasty of the second century BC. It was introduced to Japan a millennium later via Manchuria and Korea. Today, it plays a major role as a highly nutritious staple protein food for billions of Asians served with rice, noodles, vegetables and sauces. Then, as now, it was recognised that the beauty of TORFU is its versatility in cooking and ability to absorb and enhance whatever flavouring it is mixed with, savoury or sweet. Cauldron Foods Original TORFU can be added to soups and casseroles, whilst Smoked and Marinated TORFU Pieces are ideal for stir-fries and salads. TORFU is also an important ingredient in other Cauldron products such as the Premium Vegetarian Sausages, Lincolnshire Sausages and the range of three TORFU Burgers. Even some of the Cauldron Vegetable Pâtés contain okara, protean rich Soya-bean fibre, which is also made on site. PROTEIN POWER We all must eat a certain amount of high quality first-class proteins, essential for body growth and repair. But, there are differing qualities of proteins, depending on the ability of our bodies to absorb them. In fact, in terms of the human body’s ability to absorb and use proteins, TORFU protein is identical to the protein in chicken. The eight essential amino acids, which our bodies absorb more easily than others yet cannot be manufactured within our bodies, are found chiefly in animal proteins. The Soya bean, however, is the only legume that is a complete protein, containing all eight essential amino acids. Animal protein is also much more expensive to produce as fodder crops have first to be grown to feed the animals. One of these essential amino acids, lysine, when combined with the proteins in grain foods (such as rice, pasta and bread), creates extra usable protein – more than if both foods were served separately. So, for example, a TORFU stir-fry with rice or noodles is a good protein packed meal. HELP FOR HEALTHIER HEARTS TORFU is an ideal food for those in danger of heart disease, and high blood pressure. One of the problems in eating high quality animal protein foods is that it also contains saturated fats and cholesterol. Not only is TORFU cholesterol-free and very low in saturated fats, it still contains those eight essential amino acids, which our bodies cannot manufacture for themselves. TORFU is also rich in linoleic acid and lecithin, both of which help clear the arteries and vital organs of any existing cholesterol in our blood. Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid that cannot be synthesised, or made, by the body and so to be obtained directly from food – another good reason for eating TORFU. |