In the birthplace of tofu, the dish can be seen everywhere — from food stalls to dining table.

Hu Xuebing, the provincial-level inheritor of the Bagong Mountain Tofu craft, churns out the area's famous food at his home in east China's Anhui Province.

While using modern machinery is faster, Hu still uses traditional methods to produce the same quality result. As I would soon learn, it's labor-intensive work.

Moving the millstone by hand requires physical endurance and patience as the soybeans are ground into soy milk, which slowly fills a large pot below.

Hu filtered out the soybean particles with a cloth before boiling the liquid, which quickly filled the room with steam. Next, plaster was mixed with water and added to the cooling soy milk, causing it to congeal.

We scooped it out layer by layer, wrapped it and left it under weights to press it into a block.

Hu wastes nothing during the process: the straw from the plant is used to heat the fire for boiling and the filtered remnants are sold to local pig farmers.

Bagong Mountain Tofu has a reputation that stretches much farther than the city limits.

While I was there, a couple from Nanjing arrived after driving three hours just to buy Hu's prized tofu.

Tofu is on the menu at food stalls around the county for morning breakfast and becomes a work of art in the county's restaurants.

Local chefs can create more than 400 tofu dishes using over 30 skills. Despite working with such a soft substance, tofu is folded into dumplings, sliced into intricate designs, and molded into countless shapes.

From raw soybeans to fine cuisine, Shouxian County has mastered the art of tofu.

Reporter: Matthew Arrington Watson

Scriptwriters: Matthew Arrington Watson, Wu Yan

Editor: Wu Yan

Chief editor: Chen Ran

Cover image designer: Du Chenxin

Executive producer: Zhang Xiaohe

Producer: Si Nan

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei