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Insider: Rotten meat swill chemical agent Soaked toxic stinky tofu
"The stinky tofu on the streets of Fuzhou is mostly made by soaking in rotten meat, dead snails, rotten eggs, swill, and toxic materials such as borax and ferrous sulfate," Yu Chao said. In early 2005, he spent 1500 yuan to learn the craft of making "stinky tofu" from a Hunan native who sold stinky tofu in Cangshan through an introduction by a friend. He then set up stalls for more than three years in Wuliting and Cangshan Sancha Street.
Yu Chao said that stinky tofu comes in black and yellow varieties. To make black stinky tofu, you need to soak the tofu in stinky brine. The brine is made by fermenting a mixture of rotten meat, dead snails collected from the market, rotten eggs, pickled vegetables, and swill. If the brine isn't dark and smelly enough, you can dissolve sulfur alkali and ferrous sulfate in water according to a certain ratio, stir it, and after a chemical reaction, the water will become darker and smellier. "To shorten the production time, almost all stinky tofu vendors now add sulfur alkali and ferrous sulfate. This way, the brine can be brewed in two hours, while natural fermentation takes at least three to four days."
After the brine is ready, soak the tofu in it for half an hour until it smells bad. Then fry the soaked stinky tofu in oil, take it out, and dry it in a ventilated place. That's how black stinky tofu is made. When selling at the stall, adding some seasonings and heating it up makes the stinky tofu smell bad from afar but taste fragrant when eaten.
For yellow stinky tofu, a small amount of borax is added to the brine instead of sulfur alkali and ferrous sulfate. This way, the tofu becomes yellow and crispy after soaking.