tofujerky – Tofu Jerky

Copycats

I have found more copies of my original tofu jerky recipe. I think it’s weird how for nearly 30 years this recipe has been floating around the internet, and modified, and just taken over by other people.

I get it, you can’t copyright a recipe, and I’m not claiming such, but there is a clearly established precedent that on November 23, 1992, I posted a recipe to rec.food.veg, and it has been copied, remixed and riffed upon since. It’s a testament both to the power and banality of the internet.

https://www.food.com/recipe/tofu-jerky-177157

https://www.thespruceeats.com/tofu-jerky-recipe-1809468

Tofu Jerky

https://hayliepomroy.com/blogs/recipes/tofu-jerky (this one substitutes stevia for the honey but it’s the same)

https://www.jerky.com/blogs/jerky-on-a-budget/tofu-jerky-recipe

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=1074615

Tofu Jerky. It’s what’s for lunch.

6 pieces of jerky is roughly 6 ounces of fresh tofu. Some baby carrots and you have a high-protein, low calorie, yet filling lunch.

And yes, I had already eaten a few before I took the picture. Do remember to drink plenty of water with it, there is a bit of salt here.

Tofu Jerky 2015

Well, I’m back.

It’s been a long time since I made tofu jerky. Life got in the way. And the last time I tried to make it, well, it went wrong. I didn’t use a strong enough marinate and the tofu went bad. It was nasty.

Anyway, despite all that, and this blog getting hacked more than once, I still have one of the top 10 links for Tofu Jerky on my old page (chairthrower.org/tofujerky) but If you go to the link for the original recipe it’s all there now.

I made it today and my kids helped. I did three pounds of tofu and the following, simplified recipe:

1 cup soy sauce
2 T liquid smoke
2 cloves garlic
1 T maple syrup
1 t ground black pepper

I marinated it in the refrigerator overnight. It’s drying now:

The kids are excited about it–it’s been so long, the kids don’t even remember having it. Our 6 year old did not remember seeing the food dehydrator before.

I’ll probably make the stuff more often now. I’ll also do some tweaking to the recipe. I now realize I can probably get about 4 pounds of tofu at once into my food dehydrator, and I could do different recipes at a time. Just looking around the net at some of the other recipes that have sprung up in the last 5-10 years, there’s experimentation to be done with smoked paprika, tomato paste, etc.

Perhaps I can regain my rightful place as the leading tofu jerky site on the net. It may be an uphill battle, but I will try.