TofutureTofu Press - The Original BPA Free, Dishwasher Safe Tofu Presser - for Tastier, Firmer Tofu - Easy to Use, Efficient Tofu Maker - Ideal for Meal Prep - Designed in The UK – Fits 8-14 oz Tofu

Tofu scares me. No, not in the 'boo' sort of way - I don't envisage blocks of the stuff jumping out at me from dark doorways or busting from my chest like a movie monster - it's more like an intimidation thing. It's like if I have some of the stuff in one of my kitchen cupboards, I can feel it staring at me every time I open the door and can hear it muttering profanities and sniggering quietly at me until I close it, at which point the sniggering and name-calling becomes muffled - but I can still hear it mocking me.This, you see, is because my past experiments with tofu have not exactly turned out well. What was meant to be light, chewy and tasty tofu turned out as turgid, horrible goo, which lead me to be of the opinion that Tofu was disgusting stuff and was reserved only for weird folks and vegans, and worthy only of being thrown into the bin from a great height and at great velocity. This attitude to tofu was challenged however when I tried some of it in a Chinese takeaway and it was a complete revelation - whatever magical ritual the chef had performed on the stuff was nothing short of miraculous; this tofu was tasty, chewy and light as a feather; like little pillows of culinary perfection. I needed to know how he or she did this. Oh, and it also occured to me that I'm weird and vegan, so it almost felt like it was destiny that I'd find myself face to face with my arch-nemesis Dr.Tofu again.After some blog-reading and googling, it turns out that I'd fallen at the first tofu hurdle because I was missing out on an all-important step in the preparation of the stuff because I wasn't draining the water out of it. You could go on Google right now if you wished and you could read stories of the various methods that people have used in the past to drain the water from their tofu by balancing several heavy cans, books and other heavy items on top of the stuff in an effort to squeeze every last drop of water out of it. These stories quite often feature terrible accidents; cans falling on people's toes, ruined books and, quite possibly, tears.I didn't think I could be bothered with that much effort, so I had a search to see if anyone had released a kitchen gadget that took the pain out of draining tofu and found several traditional ways which were inexpensive (bamboo boxes and the likes) but still involved having to put heavy weights on top of the stuff or extortionately expensive ones which consisted of nothing more than two bits of wood and four wing-nutted screws that could be used to torture the tofu into submission and release its secret stash of water. It wasn't until I read stuff on vegan-themed social media groups about this 'Tofuture' press that my interest in it was piqued and, judging by how quickly the thing seemed to be selling out I decided that it must've be pretty good so I bided my time, waited for it to come back into stock and grabbed one.When it arrived, I opened the attractive packaging and pulled the press out of it's box. It's an attractive thing, feels well made and consists of three parts; a white outer tray for collecting the water, an inner tray that you put the tofu into which sits on little legs and is perforated at the bottom and the all-important pressing tray, which has 'Tofuture' written on it and has two clamps on it with chunky rubber bands which, when pulled onto one of the three catches on the outside of the white tray, compresses the tofu and drains the water out of it.Before I did anything else, the first thing that I did was give my new tofu press a good clean in hot soapy water and left it to dry and last night, I opened my kitchen cupboard and (mutter, snigger) grabbed the just-in-date carton of tofu that was languishing near the back of it, opened it up and plopped it into the press's perforated tray. Next, it was a simple case of... Hang on... Hnngh... Actually, it wasn't that simple the first time as the rubber bands were pretty tight but with some determination I was able to pull them onto the third and tightest of the catches on the outer tray and popped it into the fridge.So far, I'm very impressed with this thing. It's really simple to use and I'll hopefully get plenty of use out of it. They say that to get nice firm tofu, it needs to be left in the press for four hours or left overnight, so tonight I'll be attempting to make a tofu stir-fry thingy and will come back shortly to let you know how it turned out!>>> UPDATE: Well, I unsealed my block of tofu from the Tofuture press last night, chopped it into chunks and threw it into my wok. It was surprising the amount of time it took to take to cook despite the heat on my hob being turned to maximum, but after a while it started to brown and eventually turned a lovely golden colour and by some miracle it actually seemed to be firming up! I cooked it for a little while longer, chucked it to the side and cooked my veggies (with some teriyaki sauce) before throwing it in at the end....And?It was absolutely gorgeous! The tofu was chewy, light and very tasty! I can't believe it but hooray - I can walk past my kitchen cupboard now and not hear the mocking voice of Dr.Tofu anymore. He has been vanquished and will (hopefully) never return, thanks to this marvellous tofu press, which transforms formally flaccid floppy and foul tofu into perfectly peppy and pert portions of pure pleasure.

I don't use tofu but I do make paneer. Actually I'd given up making paneer because, while the making bit was fine, I could never get the resulting paneer sufficiently firm to hold together during the cooking process. However I decided to try again because there are a lot of delicious dishes which call for paneer, and I simply can't get hold of it locally.After yet another failure where I had to watch my precious paneer fall to bits instead of toast beautifully in the pan with the coconut and ghee, I decided to see if there was any kind of a press which would solve the problem. As I don't use tofu, I'd never heard of a tofu press, so I was delighted and excited to come across this one - particularly as the only other one I'd come across would have made a mess of £100(!).I saw that some reviewers had encountered problems with the press or the bands breaking, but as the supplier had obviously dealt with these problems swiftly, courteously and usefully, I decided to go ahead and order.I'm extremely glad I did. My first batch of paneer turned out (literally) beautifully. I was amused to see it was imprinted with 'Tofuture' and the leaf and line logo, but this hardly matters when, for the first time ever, there is a block of paneer which can be used in any dish required!I'm now making paneer every week. Two litres of milk makes just the right amount of paneer to fit into the Tofuture tofu press. The block with which you end up is bigger than the pre-packed blocks you buy from the supermarket or grocer's (just supposing your local shops actually sell the stuff...), and really it's the perfect size.Once you've made the paneer, put it into the tofu press and put the press into the fridge, you can just leave it until you need the paneer. Any excess whey gathers in the base of the tofu press and doesn't touch the cheese, so you can use either the paneer or the whey when you wish. It's absolutely fuss-free - and you can even sit other fridge items in the well of the tofu press lid.Homemade paneer is as different from the shop-bought variety as chalk is from, er, cheese. It doesn't take huge amounts of time, the satisfaction is immense, and it's got to be healthier because you can choose decent, fresh milk from properly reared cows. Plus, of course, you can actually have paneer when you want it rather than when you can sweet talk a friend who happens to be going somewhere where they sell paneer.No, the Tofuture tofu press isn't cheap (although it's one heck of a lot cheaper than its rival...), but it's definitely worth the price in convenience and no more wasted effort and milk!29 October 2017 - I've just bought a second Tofuture press, and there can hardly be a better endorsement than that (particularly as I'm not exactly a spendthrift; even good friends call me parsimonious at the best of times...). The reason for this second purchase is that, since buying the Tofuture press over a year ago, I've found more recipes for paneer and they've all worked out excellently well. So now I can easily use two lots of paneer in a week - and it's just easier to have two presses, given that you can keep paneer in the press in the fridge until you need to use the paneer in a dish. Before buying, I checked that there wasn't another press available which was superior (OK, and cheaper...), but it seems there isn't - and also I've discovered that people are marinating their tofu and/or paneer in the base of the Tofuture press. I'm definitely going to try this and, given that the press is BPA-free, there won't be a problem and it will be simplicity itself. A double recommend.

My first tofu press. Very effective at squeezing out the water from your tofu, retaining shape without breaking/splitting.Featuring a very simple mechanism, where the strength of the bands help pull/press down the top tray. The tofu, sitting in the bottom tray, gets squeezed and the moisture drips through the holes into the main container (to keep the tofu away from the escaped moisture).It's worth noting, that although I have little trouble securing the bands to the rungs, anyone with less-abled hands or with weakness in grip may have some trouble pulling the bands onto the lowest rung. (There are other tofu presses available that use a screw-mechanism, but I've never tried them).The longer the tofu is allowed to sit in the press, the more water escapes, making for firmer tofu. I basically hold it overnight in the fridge, and chop to the next morning.

This is the first press I've used for tofu (outside of the DIY version of using bowls, tins and any other available weight found in the kitchen to do the job) and do not regret the purchase. Made the entire process easier, tidier, and resulted in better final product. More water out meant the tofu noticeably absorbed more marinade and it cooked faster in the air fryer than usual. Obviously can't speak to longevity of the product yet, but it feels securely made.