Blood Tofu

Blood tofu is a Tujia preserved food made by mixing tofu with pig's blood — sometimes with minced meat and seasonings — pressing it into shape, then smoke-drying it. The result is dark-brown, firm and keeps well.

It comes from the mountain need to store food. After the New Year pig was slaughtered in western Hunan, nothing was wasted: blood and tofu were combined and smoke-cured to last, as part of the wider Tujia tradition of cured and smoked provisions.

Before eating it is usually sliced and steamed, or stir-fried with cured pork and chili, its smoky aroma coming to the fore. It is a familiar part of winter platters of cured foods and of everyday rice-table dishes.

Its flavor combines smoke with the earthiness of tofu and blood — plain but deep — making it a distinctive member of the Tujia world of cured foods.