Baling Tofu (Vinegar-Water Tofu)

Baling tofu, also called vinegar-water tofu, is a traditional Yueyang bean curd made from local soybeans milled and curdled with vinegar-water, fine and white, clean in bean fragrance and smooth on the tongue, listed alongside Miluo zongzi, smoke-dried fish and shrimp fritters among the city's official specialities.

Curding with vinegar-water differs from the usual gypsum or bittern methods, said to be a folk craft long kept in Yueyang, where the gentle acid of rice vinegar sets the soy milk into a purer-flavoured, more tender curd, showing the refinement of local bean-curd making.

It can be served cold, braised, or in soup, and is often eaten hot with a dip of chilli, scallion and soy, a familiar home and street treatment in Yueyang.

The fine, tender body and pure bean fragrance brought by vinegar-water curdling are what set Baling tofu apart.