Tofu Press Large Size, Trobing Tofu Presser for 12-16 oz Bricks Firm Tofu or Extra Firm Tofu, Improve Flavor and Texture, Tofu Drainer Mess-free Design DIY Tofu Maker, Dishwasher Safe

This works on several different types of tofu which I tried. There's plenty of room to spare with a 16oz block of firm tofu. It's pretty easy to close the top. The spring is thick and sturdy-looking. The plastic looks to be of middling quality: neither very cheap nor very durable.I got this one rather than some other popular choices because I liked the simple design with fewer nooks and crannies that are difficult to clean, and it is in fact fairly easy to clean. It's kind of annoying that I have to fit 3 fairly big plastic things into my dishwasher, but I don't know how you'd improve this.I've never had a tofu press before, so I don't have anything to compare its compression to. It gets quite a bit of liquid out, though I feel like the compression is pretty mild and could be more. But on the other hand, both firm and extra firm tofu develop some cracks after being pressed, so maybe it's pressing too hard. I don't know. It's good enough for me, though: I don't plan on replacing this anytime soon.

I am writing the review I wanted to find for this product. We have goats, so we have an overabundance of milk and one of the easiest cheeses to make is paneer, a traditional non-melting unsalted cheese using boiled milk and an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. However, paneer needs to be pressed in the refrigerator for best results and this can take a lot of room with a traditional paneer press (or an inverted pie plate on a towel, a cutting board and a gallon can of chilis on it, as the case was for us.)I purchased some 15" small cheesecloth and made a half-gallon of paneer first, and wrapped/flattened the paneer curds to a rough circle, hand-squeezed as much whey as I could, then pressed in this machine and got perfect paneer on a 24 hour press. Then I doubled the recipe and used a gallon of milk and the same 15" cheesecloth just laid into the press. I did not bother to squeeze much liquid out this time and just layered the curds into the cheesecloth, pressed them flat, and laid the edges of the cheesecloth over them before inserting into the machine and pressing for about 24 hours. I got a lot more whey out this time, drained it easily and put the paneer back into the fridge for another 8 hours.AGAIN, the paneer was perfect. Even better, it was rectangle shaped, so much easier to cut into the usual flattened squares. This has literally cut my paneer-making time down by almost half, as I do not need to press out as much liquid before I set up the press, and the machine is idiotically easy to set up and use.HIGHLY recommend for any other Indian-food foodies out there, who are making their own paneer. THIS IS IT. It presses the paneer from a gallon of milk, to about 1" thick in a day, and doesn't make the huge mess of a traditional paneer press.This tofu press is a quality item. I also purchased another press at the same time, as I was concerned with not having a big enough press. The other tofu press actually fits INSIDE of the pan of this one and the spring is a joke and difficult to get into the press. THIS press is big. The spring is about 6 times more impressive than the other press, it's super easy to put together and super easy to use.Also includes was a little booklet of fun tofu recipes.

UPDATE some months later (read original below) If you love tofu, you want a tofu press, and this tofu press is fantastic. It is able easily fit one-and-a-half 1-pound packages of typical tofu. That's how roomy it is. And it works. Your love of tofu will only grow, including a new appreciation of un-pressed tofu. But yes, if you think you want a tofu press, then you probably really do.Original Review:I finally decided that yes I needed a tofu press, and that this is the one I would get, because if was a little larger. It came about 20 minutes ago. There was no spring in the box. I went to report it. All I could do was arrange for another one to come, and for this one to be picked up.For now, I am using it without a spring, by putting something sturdy where the spring should go to support the strainer box, then using a 1-gallon bottle of water to weight the tofu down -- exactly what I Was doing before I bought a tofu press, and exactly what I planned on doing when the spring no longer worked. I am now ahead of schedule. Fortunately, the 1-gallon bottle fits PERFECTLY into the top compartment.EDIT: So I did a refund on the first one, and Amazon sent a replacement that came the very next day. That one included the spring. UPS picked up the first one the day after that.It works well. It is roomy. The strainer easily holds one and a half packages of the 16-oz firm I get from Costco or the Korean supermarket - that's standard sized tofu. The pieces fit perfectly. I'll take a photo next time. I make a lot of tofu! It's great being able to have it pressing in the refrigerator while the last batch is being consumed. The convenience is great!It works well so far. After sitting a few hours with a pound of tofu, I'd collected about the same amount of water as when I'd put the tofu in a plastic strainer sitting in a bowl with a gallon bottle of water balancing on a plastic plate pressing down on it. Sometimes I will have already chopped the tofu into pieces, if I don't them getting smushed together almost like pieces of dough. But cutting up tofu has almost no effect on how much water you can get out of it, surprisingly.I notice that the spring exerts downward pressure on the bottom container, pushing its center downward so that it extends down beyond the depth of the little feet, so the unit sits kind of wobbly. I can imagine a two-spring unit might offer better long term durability and effectiveness. Maybe without the feet, that pressure would go into the tofu? The spring is clearly the weak link here. We'll see how long it lasts.It would be nice of the top piece were also transparent, like the other brand and model I was looking at. But I got this for the size, and a, very glad I did!

I like to brown tofu in a pan, while toughening up the interior to give it a more "bity" texture. This tofu press seemed to be a nice and affordable way to remove more of the water from the tofu prior to cooking, as even the "super firm" tofu needs to be packed in some water. It works great and is easy to store. When we are using the 16 ounce size of tofu, we simply cut it to get the height about 1 inch less...after pressing the 1st larger piece, we can then add the remaining piece to the press (on top of the 1st piece) and let it do its thing. Of course it can take some time to remove water as the tofu is dried more and more, so be ready to let it sit for even an hour or so...proper planning and this knowledge will pay off, as it has for us. Thanks also to the many other reviews, as they helped us with our own purchase.

I would have liked there to be an option for a tighter squeeze. There is only one setting and it is not particularly tight. I ended up putting a pack of cards in a Ziploc and putting that in too so I could get a tighter squeeze