Gypsum / GDL

豆腐花 needs a coagulant, and Hong Kong homes use one of two. Gypsum powder (熟石膏, food-grade calcium sulfate) is the traditional one and gives the market-stall pudding, strong in bean flavour and very slightly grainy: a teaspoon stirred with a spoon of cornflour and water, and the boiling soy milk poured onto it from a height in one go. GDL (glucono delta-lactone) is the modern one and sets a silk-smooth, faintly tangy pudding that never falls apart. In Australia gypsum is a patchy Asian-grocer item, usually shelved beside the agar and grass-jelly powder as gypsum powder for tofu or 熟石膏; GDL is rarely in a shop and comes from online sellers (eBay AU, for example) and cheese-making or home-brew suppliers. The easy route is the tub of fresh 豆腐花 in the Asian grocer chiller, with only the ginger syrup made at home.

Cautions: read first

• Food-grade only, from a food shop, with 食用 or food grade on the packet; never builder's plaster. Too much GDL turns the pudding sour.
• The soy milk it sets must be boiled through (raw soy milk is not safe) and it boils over, so use a tall pot.

Preparation

Stir the slurry just before the pour so nothing settles; after the pour do not stir and do not move the bowl.

Availability in Australia

Herbal shops / specialists

Pairs well with