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• Ferment from Indonesia, soy-based, uses R ryzope (look it up online), makes solid structure out of soy grains.
• White mold-like structure, traditionally made inside banana leaves. Consumed in curry form, stew, fried, in sandwiches, and numerous other ways in Indonesia.
• Quickly arising in popularity in the states, great depth and ‘umami’, reasonable replacement for meat.
• Boil soybeans, add the starter culture, let it sit in high-humidity culture for a couple of days, before the mold spores start appearing.
• The grains will have congealed to a solid block. Cut into slices and store in the freezer.
• Generally higher temperature fermentation, 30-40C.
• Made it a few times, pretty decent, also had TJ’s tempeh, mine wasn’t as great, the initial moisture content of grains is important, if they’re too wet when starting, they don’t congeal into a block and can’t be cut, need to improve that.

Tempeh. Tempeh is a ferment from Indonesia. It is soy-based and uses Rhizopus microbes to break down cooked soy grains. Those microbes make solid structures out of the cooked soy grains. It is a white, more like bar structure, traditionally made inside banana leaves. It’s consumed in curry form, stewed, fried, in sandwiches, and numerous other ways in Indonesia.

It’s been rapidly rising in popularity in the States, particularly as an option for vegetarian and vegan eaters, for the great depth and umami. It’s a reasonable replacement for meat. The steps to start making tempeh are pretty easy: boil soybeans, add the starter culture, let it sit in a high-humidity environment for a couple of days, and the mold spores will start appearing. The grains will have congealed into a solid block filled with white, hard mortar. Cut it into slices and store it in an airtight container in the freezer. Tempeh grains, sorry, yes, tempeh fermentation, usually prefers a higher temperature for proper fermentation, so that’s between 30 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius.

I’ve made it a few times. They’ve been pretty decent. I’ve also had Trader Joe’s tempeh. Mine wasn’t as great as Trader Joe’s, and I’m told Trader Joe’s tempeh is not very good at all. My understanding is the initial moisture content of the grains is important. If they’re too wet when starting, they don’t congeal into a nice block and can’t be cut, so they’re still grainy and not properly inoculated. I need to improve on that. Drying the cooked soy grains with a towel or paper towel felt like such a comical and difficult thing to do. I haven’t, I didn’t put much effort into it. If I had a salad spinner, I could probably get it right much faster.

I did try the air fryer on the dehydration mode. I think I dehydrated the grains a bit too much, and that batch of ferment didn’t work very well. I have been generally not too great with soy solid-state ferments, so this is an opportunity for me to learn more. I need to maintain proper temperatures and proper humidity levels going forward. This will be a challenge I want to set, I’m setting, for my future self.