Hodo Soy Beanery

PRODUCTS: Soy products

PEOPLE: Minh Tsai and John Notz along with 3 full-time and 6 part-time employees

ABOUT: As a food lover unable to find fresh organic tofu and other soy products in the Bay Area, Minh Tsai left his career in finance and founded Hodo Soy Beanery in 2004.

PROCESS: Dried soybeans are soaked overnight and ground into a pulp using an industrial-sized stone grinder. The puree is then cooked by steam injection for 60 minutes, at high heat and all liquid (soymilk) is extracted from the puree. Soymilk is the basic ingredient for all of Hodo’s products. To make tofu, calcium sulfate is used to coagulate the soymilk into curds. The bean curds are wrapped in cheesecloth and pressed into various textures, from soft to firm. Fresh yuba (also known as tofu skin), is made by keeping the soymilk warm for the fat and protein to form paper-thin sheets; these sheets are peeled off the surface of the warm milk. Hodo often sells products within 12 hours of when they are made.

SOURCING: All soybeans, which make up the vast majority of what goes into Hodo products, are organically grown in Missouri. Most of their spices are imported from Asia. All products are free of preservatives.