Tempeh

Tempeh is a mycelium food like "Quorn" it is the underground part of a mushroom so this is not so much cooking as growing.

It can be eaten raw, but normally is used as an ingredient

Tempeh has been made for a long time in the Far east, it is not easily available and it is expensive to buy and cheap to make. It is an unusual food, it is not much like anything else.

If you want to have a go, you need to get some mycelium spores, I get mine over the internet from Erik at http://www.tempeh.info there are some excellent recipes on that website as well, I recommend tempeh with tahini.

If you want to scare your friends after they have eaten it and made lots of nice compliments you can tell them that it's "mouldy beans" which is almost true.

Step 1 Soak the beans

Put the soy beans in a bowl and add water to cover and add a bit of vinegar, soak overnight.

I use organic soy beans, these are smaller than the beans that are grown in the Americas.

Nearly all the soy beans grown in the Americas are now Genetically Modified to allow them to be weed killer resistant, personally, I like my food as natural as possible with as few residual pesticides and herbicides as possible, eating part of a plant that has been deliberately sprayed with poison seems counter intuitive to me.

You can make as big or small a batch as you like, this is just a 1lb/500g bag.

Comments

[brucedenney]

Just to let you know http://www.tempeh.info has started offering FREE samples again!

Don't know how long it will last, so get some quick,

[Veganlady]

Awesome. I've really been wanting to make my own tempeh for a while. Its so expensive to buy!

[oldfieldcycles]

ziplock brand makes bags that have holes already in then, i think that they are for produce and thats what i get.

[brucedenney]

Do you know if/where they available in the UK?

[mrtempeh]

HI there,
I have a Tempeh making business in Australia and I sell D.I.Y Tempeh kits worldwide, everything included, 3 pages of detailed instructions, video link for visual support and a chatgroup for Q+A.
pls checkout www.mrtempeh.com.au for competitive pricing and great service, our main business is MAKING tempeh , we promote and encourage people to make their own, thanks Amita

btw great website you have!

[din_gen]

Hi, here in Malaysia we can find it easily everywhere in the market with a very cheap price. It's good for you to show it here if it's too hard to find at your place. A good protein for us.

[erna]

I am trying to make an incubator by using old refrigerator. Do you have an instruction on how to build it? Where do you put the thermometer, so that it is easy to know the inside temperature without opening the refrigerator door? Thank you kindly in advance.

[brucedenney]

It could be an instructable in it's own right. I used a room thermostat to turn the light bulb on and off, (it was my old one from the central heating in my house). You want to put the thermostat at the top, as hot air rises. You want to put the heater (light bulb) at the bottom. I think putting it to one side might have helped, create better convection currents to stir the air up, I experimented with hotter, higher wattage bulbs and they seem to stir the air better. The thermostat keeps the incubator at the right temperature so you don't need to see a thermometer from outside. I have a couple of thermometers screwed to the inside of the door and one with a hygrometer as well. I check it when I set it up and then leave it alone the thermostat is not very accurate. The Hygrometer is handy for drying stuff. When using it to dry stuff, I tend to put an electric fan in (and open the door a crack). It is a good bit of kit well worth making, Right now it is being used brewing some mead.

[Grandma Jeanne]

I love tempeh, get it at the Co-op but would love to grow my own. Very nice Instructable, thank you for your efforts. Please provide clarification on step 7 please? You're photo shows what appear to be two different types of starters. Your instructions say, "Working with 1lb (500g) of beans, I take a teaspoon of starter and sprinkle it over and stir it in. " Which starter do you mean? Also are both types of starter needed and can they both be ordered from the website you mention?

[brucedenney]

The starter you use, depends on the substrate you are growing the Tempeh on, mixed or plain soy. I am pretty sure both types of starter are still available to order even if the mixed one is not show, just ask, they are very helpful.

[aeray]

This would be a great 'ible, if you added a little bit more info, like quantities, cooking times, and suitable type of beans. I've recently been making a lot of kimchee and saurkraut, and I just made a starter culture of aspergillus oryziiae to make a batch of sake. Tempeh will be next.

[brucedenney]

Good, point, I have gone back and updated it to have quantities, times and some info on the types of beans I use.

[aeray]

Excellent. Also, check out the book "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Katz.

[MerleCorey]

this is great i want to see more people growing edible fungus in their homes i have done this with button mushrooms, but it can be dangerous, depending on how hearty the strain you are growing is, make sure to tell people that if there is any discoloration to throw it out, it could be a colony of bad stuff eating your mushroom bean food.

[brucedenney]

If you allow the tempeh to over ripen it does get black spots and it is still fine to eat, indeed it is a different flavour, which is loved by some.

[MerleCorey]

the problem is not with the tempeh Mycelium becoming over ripe, it is with potential contamination. Think about it this way, you buy tempeh spores and clean a substrate for them to eat (beans) the spores like to eat clean substrate because it is more or less sterile, with no competing organisms, BUT, competing fungus will favor this sterile enviroment as well and any ANY discoloration could be a different type of organism thriving in your substrate, something very bad could grow in there too along with the tempeh.

[brucedenney]

I have eaten the very black, heavily sporated tempeh and I can see why some people like it like that although it is not my personal taste. Sporation is not anything to worry about. Black spots are fine and if you like it that way going fully overripe and totally black is fine too. I would hate people to be throwing away perfectly good sporated tempeh imagining it to be contaminated. Obviously, if you had a clump of something different looking, then that could be a contaminant, I have never seen contamination, but I guess it could happen, Everyone should use common sense.

[jongscx]

I would have to agree with merle here, especially since this is a beginner's instructable. Throwing out a good batch of tempe would be pretty bad, but not as bad as a hospital trip from eating a huge clump of black mold. I think it should be more of a side note, as opposed to a primary instruction, stating that "Once they have gained enough experience... " then they should broaden out. We did shitake and oyster, and tried straw a while back. You really needed to be either really observant or have done a lot before you knew the difference between good mushroom and contamination...

[brucedenney]

I have never had contamination with any of my Soy Bean Tempeh. I have added a picture of some sporated tempeh so people can see what to expect. Perfect solid white tempeh is not that easy to make, and not what most first timers will get. Sporation is normal and to be expected.

[sahat]

Hi, I think the correct spelling should be "Tempe", it was a common food for javanese and I think it was quite tasty and like MerleCorey said need to be careful since it can become poisonous if you done it wrong

[brucedenney]

According to Wikipedia, both spellings are recognised, so everyone is correct.

[AidanG]

In the US, it is always spelled "tempeh" - Tempe is a city in Arizona. :)

[mr.space]

No offence, but the Americans have a tendency to spell things wrong... sulfur...sulPHur, lol

[nagutron]

Hi. Great Instructable. I was wondering where you get your starter.

[brucedenney]

I buy it from http://www.tempeh.info

[riccolesmana]

it's Indonesian food ..
i'd like it so much