Sufu – also furu (腐乳), fu yu in Cantonese, or “fermented bean curd” – is a Chinese condiment of tofu cubes that have been fermented by mold and then aged in a brine of salt and rice wine. It’s soft, creamy and spreadable, salty and intensely savory, and often compared to a strong soft cheese. It’s eaten a little at a time with rice porridge (congee), rice or steamed bread, and mashed into sauces and marinades. Written records of it go back to the Wei Dynasty (220–265 AD) (Han et al., 2001). Century eggs, another Chinese preserved food served with congee, are often called fermented but are cured instead – see century egg.
How Sufu Is Made
- Tofu: firm tofu is pressed and cut into cubes.
- Pehtze (mold growth): the cubes are inoculated with a fungal starter – usually Actinomucor, Mucor or Rhizopus – and grow a white, cottony coat.
- Salting and ripening: the moldy cubes are salted, then aged in a dressing of salt and alcohol (rice wine) with flavorings for weeks to months, while the mold’s enzymes break down protein and fat into a creamy texture and savory flavor (Han et al., 2001; Wei et al., 2023).
Some sufu is ripened by bacteria or enzymes instead of mold, but all commercial types depend on controlled steps and salt and alcohol levels.
White, Red and Grey Sufu
- White sufu (白腐乳): the mildest and most cheese-like; often with chili or sesame oil in the jar.
- Red sufu (红腐乳, nam yu): colored and flavored with red yeast rice (hong qu); sweeter and earthier, and used in Cantonese braises, roast pork and char siu-style marinades.
- Grey sufu (“stinky” fermented bean curd): the most pungent type, strong-smelling and intensely savory.
The dressing – the brine and flavorings added for ripening – is what makes a sufu red, white or grey (Han et al., 2001).
Don’t Make It at Home
Buy sufu in sealed jars rather than improvising it. Fermenting tofu at home is not a tested method, and it has caused botulism: in New York City in 2012, a confirmed and a probable case of botulism were linked to home-fermented tofu, and type B botulinum toxin was found in the tofu one patient ate (CDC, 2013). Commercial sufu is made with defined starters and controlled salting and aging.
Nutrition and Vitamin B12
Sufu is a salty seasoning, eaten a cube or two at a time. It’s often said to be a plant source of vitamin B12, but that doesn’t hold up: in eight commercial products, grey sufu had the most (about 1.1 µg per 100 g) and only about 9% of it was the active form; the others had less than 0.4 µg (Koseki et al., 2026). In a small trial, a breakfast with 50 g of red sufu didn’t raise blood B12 (Tsheko et al., 2020). Vegetarians and vegans still need a reliable B12 source.
How to Use Sufu
- With congee or rice: a small piece with each spoonful.
- With greens: mashed into the sauce for stir-fried water spinach, lettuce or green beans (the recipe card below).
- In braises and roasts: red sufu mashed into marinades for pork belly, roast pork or chicken.
- In dips: a little mashed sufu in a hotpot dipping sauce with sesame paste.
Keep the jar in the fridge after opening, use a clean spoon, and keep the cubes covered with their brine.
More soybean ferments: our fermented soybeans guide, Japanese natto and Korean doenjang.