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Tempeh – How to Make your Own Tempeh from Scratch — 13 Comments

  1. This looks so simple! Excited to try it. Would it work just as well if I lined the plastic bags with parchment paper? I’m trying to avoid a lot of plastic-food contact these days. Thanks!

    • Understood. You don’t have to use plastic bags. You need a form of some sort that has holes poked in it. When I first started making tempeh, I used cheap aluminum disposable baking pans topped with aluminum foil with holes poked in them. Some folks have used tupperware. Not sure about lining the bags with parchment paper, but it you can pull it off, I think it would work fine. Make sure the holes in the bag line up with the holes in the parchment paper so it an breathe/vent properly.

  2. If you have a food dehydrator, this is an excellent place to mature your tempeh once it’s ready to go. Set the Dehydrator to between 28C – 33C, and set the timer to 48 hours. However, DO check the temperature after 12 hours, because as the beans ferment, they will generate their own warmth, so you may need to adjust the temperature downwards by a few degrees…However, the time remains the same.
    You’ll be able to tell they’re done when the mass is solid, and they look as if they have been wrapped in cotton wool…

  3. Instead of using a material which needs to have holes punched in it, can you use one of those bags made of a cheese cloth material?

    • I haven’t seen bags made of cheese cloth, but in any kind of bag, if it’s full, it will be challenging to remove the tempeh without cutting the bag. I haven’t tried wrapping in cheesecloth before but that might work. It’s possible the tempeh will stick you’re it as the mold may weave it’s way into the fibers. I’ll try eventually though. Another possibility is buying a plastic (I know, plastic again, right?)storage container and poking holes throughout. May at least be reusable. As an FYI, I made a wood form w holes in it for pressing tofu. When I tried using it for tempeh, it kept the tempeh too warm and the attempt failed. Anyone out there, please let us know if you have a good option besides disposable plastic.

  4. I have used freshly laundered tea towels (perfume free detergent and rinsed twice) made of thin terry cloth lining a large baking pan without any holes drilled. After 24 hours one is able to flip the entire mass to make sure the bottom of the tempeh hasnt accumulated too much condensation. AT this point I have transferred the firm tempeh to a pizza pan if it seems overly moist. I have had excellent results with soy and pearl barley using this method. Move to the fridge for 2 days and the flavour improves…then delicious nutty tempeh!

  5. The last time when I ate tempeh it was more than a decade ago. Recently, I have made me a very small incubator using a W3230 Digital Temperature Controller (DTC) to regulate the temperature inside the heating chamber of an inexpensive and simple (no ON/OFF switch) electric lunch box. So, perhaps if anyone here who lives in the US and is willing to send me some tempeh starter (even only 1 gram is more than sufficient) through a regular US postal service (63¢ First-Class Mail® allows up to 1 oz in total weight to any place in the US), I will certainly appreciate and may start to incubate / make / eat my own tempeh.

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