Twin Oaks tofu, tempeh, soysage, vegetarian pate, and soymilk are made in small batches by skilled food artisans. Our products are kosher and are free of preservatives and chemicals. Our tofu is certified organic.

Making tofu all begins with the bean soaker, who soaks the locally-grown soybeans in large barrels of well-water on the night before a production day. The kettle operator arrives at the Tofu Hut early in the morning (around 5:00am) and gets all the equipment and supplies ready for production. One of the kettle operator's first tasks is to start up the wood furnace used to heat the kettle. For the next 10-12 hours a crew of 4 people, who are replaced every 3-4 hours on rotating shifts, work together repeating the same labor-intensive process over and over again.

Once the first batch of soybeans is put through the grinder and the soybean slurry in the kettle reaches a critical temperature, the real action of making tofu begins. This slurry is pumped through a centrifuge which separates the soy milk liquid from the okara, the grainy part of the soybean. After the soy milk is pumped out of the kettle we curd the scalding-hot soy milk by stirring in a sea-water extract called nigari. It is the job of another worker to remove the whey from the curd by using weighted-down strainers and a vacuum pump. When enough whey is separated from the curds, the curds are poured into rectangular trays and then wrapped in specially cut-to-size cheese-cloths. Lids are placed onto the curd-filled trays and pneumatic presses are used to press the remaining why from the curds, creating firm rectangular blocks of organic tofu. When pressing is complete, the 12-lb block is cut into 1-lb pieces using a customized slicing device. Next, we place the tofu in a cool water bath to help decrease bacteria growth and retain the freshest flavor. We then weigh and vacuum pack the tofu in 12-lb and 1-lb packages. Finally, the tofu is pasteurized to give it a 60-day shelf-life and quickly chilled to keep it's just-made taste.

Okara is a copious byproduct of making tofu. We save and cool some of the day's okara to make our mushroom pate and the rest is used as compost for our organic vegetable gardens.

At Twin Oaks, we make tofu about 4 days during a typical week. On a normal production day, 16 cycles are completed, meaning 16 full kettles of soy milk are pumped out and made into roughly 1600 lbs of tofu. We produce the tofu in a building we call the Tofu Hut. Around 25% of the members of our community are involved in the production of tofu, specializing in different areas and assume different levels of responsibility.