Freezing tofu can give it a denser, spongier texture that is great for breading or using in stir-fries. It also helps the tofu soak up marinades and sauces better. Whether you freeze it to make a breakfast tofu scramble or tofu tacos, the texture change is well worth it.
The Japanese invented an ingenious natural method for preserving tofu about 750 years ago. At a temple on Mt. Koya, Buddhist monks began placing frozen tofu in a heated shed to dry it into crisp cracker-like slices known as koya dofu. The technique was so successful that a military commander, Takeda Shingen, saw its value for rations during the fifteenth century.
As a result, this tofu preservation method is used in Japan by many people who are not able to buy fresh tofu at a convenient time or who do not have the space for a large refrigerator. The koya dofu is also considered healthy, because it has no fat or salt and only 10 percent of the original moisture remains.
A study was conducted in order to test the effect of a diet with a high level of vegetable protein (freeze-dried tofu) on various bodily functions, as compared to that of an ordinary meat-rich diet. This was done by a dietary experiment that consisted of four days of an ordinary non-prescribed diet, ten days of a meal plan that included 190g of meat contributing about 38g of protein, and 39 days of a food supply that replaced animal protein with the equivalent amount of vegetable protein provided by three eggs and 180 ml of cow’s milk.
During the meat period, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure tended to increase, while during the freeze-dried tofu period they remained within physiologically normal limits. In addition, serum cholesterol levels decreased significantly during the meat period, while they rose during the freeze-dried tofu diet. This suggests that, when animal proteins are limited and adequate amounts of vegetable proteins are consumed, systolic and diastolic high blood pressure can be maintained within normal limits and that high cholesterol levels may also be avoided by eating a diet consisting mostly of freeze-dried tofu. Freeze-dried tofu seems therefore a valuable food for preventing lifestyle-related chronic diseases.