Brightly colored dried tofu isn't necessarily better; vendors say brown dried tofu is the natural kind

The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and many people are busy going to the market to buy dried tofu for wrapping zongzi, yet reports have emerged that unscrupulous vendors are using industrial dyes on dried tofu. The old dried tofu shops of Daxi in Taoyuan, China, famous for their dried tofu, clarified that traditional dried tofu is always colored with caramel, commonly known as "soy sauce color," extracted from natural sucrose, and the dyed dried tofu turns yellowish brown or brown; some dried tofu is golden and bright because edible yellow food coloring has been added, and even worse manufacturers dye it with the industrial "metanil yellow," so consumers should avoid buying dried tofu that is too brightly colored.

Traditional dried tofu uses no coloring

On holidays, the old street of Daxi is crowded with people, but the public does not buy dried tofu as readily as before, and they ask right away: "Do you add industrial coloring?" Shopkeepers rush to clarify that traditional dried tofu contains no coloring.

Government regulations allow the addition of edible yellow food coloring No. 4 and No. 5 in making dried tofu; but investigators recently found that unscrupulous vendors, to save costs, bought metanil yellow used for paint to dye dried tofu. A kilogram of food coloring costs more than 600 yuan, while industrial metanil yellow costs only 300 yuan, earning a full double of ill-gotten money, and consumers who eat too much may risk liver damage.

Although dried tofu may legally use coloring, many old Daxi shops scoff at it. Wanlixiang Dried Tofu has been open in Daxi for nearly a hundred years, and the locally born proprietress Jiang Qiuyun, upon seeing brightly yellow dried tofu, said: "People from Daxi never eat this kind of dried tofu!" She explained that dried tofu can be divided into natural-color white dried tofu and colored dried tofu; after the water is pressed out of tofu it becomes dried tofu, appearing dull white, but white dried tofu has more water and spoils easily, so some people boil and color it with caramel, commonly known as "soy sauce color," to reduce the water content of the dried tofu and extend its shelf life. "Daxi dried tofu does not use coloring to ruin its own reputation at all."

The first from the left is black dried tofu, colored longer with sugar soy sauce; the middle is dried tofu with added coloring, which has already seeped into the cut surface of the dried tofu; the first from the right is yellowish brown dried tofu, colored with sugar soy sauce for about five minutes