The sticky business of making a living in West Bogor

Text and photos by P.J. Leo

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Traditional edibles such as tahu, have stood up well to the onslaught of foreign foods. Tahu, or tofu varies in both size and quality. You can buy it from vendors at the traffic lights, in warungs and in classy Chinese and Indonesian restaurants.

Most people know that tofu is made from soybeans, but not much about the production process. Few know whether or not tofu is still made by crushing soybeans beneath the feet?

One tofu-making family still live on the Cisadane riverbank at village of Pasir Jaya in West Bogor: Supatma, his wife, their five sons and a daughter.

Supatma started making tofu in 1983 after working in a slaughterhouse for 15 years. He is of slight build and has a good sense of humor. Initially Supatma lacked the right equipment, but his father-in-law, a tofu maker, was able to give him a job.

Supatma and his family now have tofu-making equipment, including a grinding machine and a kiln for boiling the ground soybeans.

Supatma's earnings are meager, but adequate for the families daily needs and to buy new tofu ingredients. "I am relieved that our two eldest children have finished high school.", he said.

Supatma hopes the children will one day find better jobs, but for now, they help him at home.

"I have told them that helping me is better than being idle. Working with me is as good as working for others. The pay is higher than the official minimum wage," said Supatma, laughing. Supatma only has enough capital to process 70 kgs of soybeans daily. He also needs 2 kgs of biang tahu (leaven), 1 kg of turmeric and 6 kgs of salt.

Supatma and his family make tofu at the back of their house. They start in the wee hours, at three a.m.. The soybeans are soaked for five hours, then rinsed and reground. Supatma does not need much manpower for grinding the beans as he now owns a diesel machine. The ground soybeans are then boiled.

"The kiln used to boil the soybeans needs a lot of firewood as it must keep burning from morning to late afternoon," said Bogor- born Supatma.

Whilst still boiling, the stuff is filtered into a big teakwood cask to isolate the concentrate. The waste is sold cheaply to Supatma's neighbor, a producer of oncom (fermented soybean cake).

The soybean concentrate is mixed with one cupful of leaven and two pails of water. After 30 minutes, clusters of soft tofu, better known as tahwe in Chinese, will surface. The tahwe is then poured into a tofu mold and left there for 15 minutes. One mold yields 81 pieces of tofu. Supatma uses two sizes of mold for his tofu, 4 by 4 cms and 5 by 5 cms.

After molding, the tofu is boiled with turmeric to produce a yellow coloring.

"I do not use artificial colors which may harm me, my family and my customers," Supatma said.

After being boiled for an hour, the tofu is taken out and submerged in salty water. In the evening, when the tofu has cooled, it is packed into plastic bags. The final product is then ready for market. The 4 cm-by-4 cm tofu costs Rp 25 and the bigger one Rp 50 a piece.

The wearying process of making tofu is over until tomorrow. Supatma and his family hope their tofu will sell well and their business will prosper.