Whats the difference between firm and silken tofu?

hello everyone and happy thanksgiving! I was wondering whats the difference between firm tofu, and silken tofu? Im trying to make a vegan-friendly chocolate mousse for my family so they are more open minded towards my vegan choice.

The only real difference between firm (cotton) tofu and silk (soft) tofu is the amount of liquid removed after curdling the soymilk. You can also produce different textures (and tastes) by using different coagulants (Nigari).

For a mousse silk would normally be used but firm is also ok, you'd just need to add a little more liquid and blend longer to 'break up' the tofu bits (or settle for a 'snowy' mousse).

When feeding 'normal' people tofu desserts I'd suggest adding a little more sweetener than normal and boost the cocoa in your mousse. It makes it more like they're used to.

soft tofu is more often used for desserts. it's softer and creamier.
firm and hard tofu are better for chopping and using in things like stirfrys because they keep their shape and aren't as liquid

Yum, Vegan mousse! Silken tofu is for things like this. Anything that needs to have a creamy consistency should be made with Silken tofu. If you want to saute or grill tofu, use Extra Firm. The Medium Firmness can be used when you're making "cheese" for lasagna or tofu scramble. Have fun and happy Tofurky Day!

I like the soft for Banana cream pie. The strong taste of the bananna covers the taste of the tofu.
Useing a graham cracker crust, put down a bannana and get banana cream pudding and pie mix, use soymilk. and silken soy.
whipped up good in a mixer. put cool whip on top and no one knew the difference. Even the I can't eat that stuff people.

You can actually get firm silken and firm regular tofu, and soft in both varieties. The difference is the texture of the actual tofu, silken being smooth as room-temp butter (thats not a good analogy, sorry, but i mean to say that it goes really smooth if you sqeeze it) and regular tofu being more of a jello consistancy ( if you rub it between your fingers it's a little more crumbly).