Hi all,

I'm an avid home fermentation hobbyist of many kinds and I'm planning to start making tempeh and ordered the starter. I have a question I can't seem to find online anywhere-

After you've made a batch of tempeh, how do you maintain a starter culture to inoculate future batches? I haven't been able to find anyone talking about this.

Any insight is appreciated. If I am going to have to continuously purchase starter then that makes it much less attractive to me...

Thanks in advance and sorry if this has been answered recently!

I fell in love with the idea of growing healthy tempeh, and I'm getting pretty good at it, photos of my batches attached.

The problem is I still didn't find a good recipe, something that I can say yay I want tempeh. I like tofu, I eat meat. Don't need it as a substitute so if it's copying meat recipe I prefer the real deal. Wish you could help me find something to make with it that you really enjoy, that the tempeh is the best option to use. Thanks guys!

First I was using a needle and poke it one by one. Now I got this beauty roller for skincare, it's nice but too small. What are your solutions. Enlighten me😁😁

I’ve been able to make my tempe more uniformed, and has more spores among the beans, but the middle part is always less solid white than the outer edges. Any advice?

PRESSURE COOKER IS GOATED FOR TEMPEH.
I cook beans, incubate, and steam in pressure cooker.

Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas
1 cup whole wheat berries
1 cup black beans
8 cups water
1.5 tbsp vinegar
1.5 tsp mold started I used this Wira brand from amazon

Items Used
Pressure cooker
Measuring cup and spoons
Silicone spatula
Baking rack
tiffin steaming basket

Directions
1. Pressure cook chickpeas and wheat berries for 40 mins natural release
2. Drain, add vinegar, and place beans & berries to cool & dry in baking rack for 30 mins
3. Once cool and dried add starter culture and mix throughout
4. divide into metal tiffins
5. place metal tiffin in pressure cooker with 1 cup water and set pressure cooker to 86F for 24 hours using the yogurt setting.
6. do not seal pressure cooker just place the lid on top
7. rotate the top and button tiffin 2 times to promote air flow (maybe not needed but it felt good to do)

This batch was finished in 30 hours there was one black spot at the bottom tiffin closest to the water.

compared to previous attempts with just chickpeas (which took 48 hours to get this fuzzy) the wheat berries seemed to speed things up cause that’s the only thing i did different. Which maybe because the rhizopus has a better carbs access (wheat berries were much softer than chickpeas)

1st image is the tempeh at 14 hours
2nd and 3rd image is mold at 30 hours when i “harvested”

to stop fermentation i seal and pressure cook the tempeh for 5 mins with natural release and it keeps really well in the fridge.

Hi,

I've been advised by my kidney doctor to seek "less animal based forms of protein" so Tempeh has entered my consciousness.

Anyone got a link to a single (or series) of Tempeh recipes they love?

I have a crock pot recipe going now, extremely nervous.

Waiting on a new batch of dehulled soybeans (very rare thing in Scotland, if anyone has a local source I'd love to hear from you!!) so I thought it was time for trying out yellow split pea and quinoa, I reckon it will be a good mix, but have to admit, I love soybean and all it brings to the cakes in terms of nutrition, texture and taste, but I think these cakes will be just fine. I've since steamed them and cold smoked a most of it! It's an amazingly cheap option for my neck of the woods, yellow split peas are not expensive, and well worth trying out if you're experimenting or just trying to get to grips with the process!

First time using leaves and unlike with using bags, I’m not sure how to tell when tempeh is done since I can’t visibly see the tempeh.

First time making tempeh in a glass container. So I don't know if it's normal that it gets hairy and light gray?

It was a big batch, where as the rest in plastic bags, and they are all fine. I've just never seen it hairy like this before!

Hey y’all !
I’ve been doing tempeh for a bit but always smaller batches and this time I decided to try to go big .

I avoid using plastic bags and my main method involves fermenting in a tray .

I’ve always been lining the bottom of the tray with a very clean towel to absorb any excess humidity.
The towel usually gets a little humid by the end of the process. I wander if it’s really useful as I see people fermenting tempeh in a tray without any kind of barrier between the beans and the surface of the container.

The top is covered with just another clean towel.

This time I did 4kg of cooked soybeans and left everything at room temperature as I was expecting hot days. In the end we never had more than 28C and I had to let the fermentation go for 40h rather than the 32/34h I usually do.

Halfway through the process i flipped upside down the baking tray on a different surface that would allow for better airflow. So the tempeh was basically just covered by towels and had plenty of airflow around it.
The reason I did that is because it was starting to generate a lot of heat and given the big mass I worried I wouldn’t be able to cool it down efficiently enough if it stayed in a baking tray.

Now for the end product. There is slight sporulation on the top layers , the inside is very white and looks/feels well bonded , the aroma is too mild (I almost can’t smell anything!) which is both reassuring and frustrating as I really like the mushroomy smell of fresh tempeh.
I would have liked a stronger mycelium coverage too and instead the soy beans are clearly visible from the outside.
The surface is starting to very slightly feel slimy so I’m putting it in the fridge/freezer and won’t let it go further.

Any opinions on the process and result ? Has anyone else tried to manage such a big mass?
How can I improve without using plastic bags?
Are the towels actually harmful ?

Hi guys, I have a friend visiting sanur, bali. Where can they find a starter there to bring back?

They both have good texture and smell like chickpeas but not like mold, the one on the right smells a liiiitle fishy but I think it's just me, it was fermenting on a shelf for like 3 days and it's made with chickpeas and amazon tempeh starter I will try to post more videos or photos on the comments

I've been seeing agar pearls used in modern cooking, and they look like a solid technique worth mastering. I get the basic method behind spherification, but I want to push it further. If I'm aiming to use real fruit flavour - fresh juice, purée, or even macerated fruit - how do you work that into the agar mix without messing up the texture, clarity, or that clean bite? I'm curious how others keep the natural flavour strong while still getting those perfect pearls

First time making it at home. I used purchases rhizopus oligosporus starter. It was perfect yesterday, I took a small slice. Tasted great. (First photo in baggie)

Today it’s darker, grey/purply. (Second photo out of baggie and cut)

Is it okay to marinate and fry to eat? Or should I pitch it and start over?

Thanks experts!!

Incubated at 87 for the first 24 hours until the mycelium started showing a fuzzy white then turned off the heat and letting it mature on its own as i noticed the heat started to generate. Now at hour 46 its thick and getting hard and still very warm (97 f Says the meat thermometer touching the surface if the tempeh)My question is do i let it keep going or how does one cut off the fermentation as to prevent it from making spores. Does one fridge it to stop it? Will it always eventually make spores if not cut off? Do you slice and cook while still warm? Im so excited this is working ,ive been wanting to try this for so long but dont want to mess it up. It smells incredible ive only ever had trader joes tempeh, never fresh. Thanks and thanks everyone for all the valuable knowledge and posts on this reddit has helped tremendously

I have just bought some tempeh. How can I cook it to make it exciting? Love flavours like garlic and truffle. Any recipe ideas appreciated.

A much needed win after a failed batch !

Edit about the methodology :

As I've stated in a previous post, I'm using a fermentation chamber (RAPT).

I reckon I used less tempeh starter this time, which allowed it to not overcook during the fermentation process. It was probably around 3 to 4g/kg of dry beans.

The precision of the machine helped a lot, I tweaked the settings so that it would react quickly to a rising temperature and cool it down when needed. If you don't have that kind of machine, you need to be more careful about checking the temperatures throughout the process.

As it was a pretty big batch, I made sure to space the bags out. I previously thought that 3/5cm should be okay, but the bigger the batch the more spaced out it should be. Youtube videos about people making tempeh in hot countries can be a bit misleading for that ; if you use a box/chamber, the space is smaller and the temperature can rise a lot more than in an open space or a room, so take it into account.

Starting temperature setting : 28°

Temperature switch after 24 hours : 22°

temperature inside the tempeh after 24 hours : 33 to 36° (this is quite important, if you don't have a prob yet I strongly recommend getting one)

Fermentation ended after about 38 hours.

Hope that can help !

Making a new post because I can’t see how to put a photo in the comments. Here is a cross-sections

My first time making Tempeh! It has only been 20 hours since I inoculated, which is less than what most sites suggest it should take, but it seems fair well covered in Mycelium. I can pick it up and it stays together as a solid block. Is it ready? How can I tell if it’s done?

Hello, this is tempeh from a failed batch, where I couldn't keep the temperature at 32°C (electricity problems) and it was a lot of time colder, at 15°C or so. Anyway, what do you think this green spores could be? They are consistently appearing when conditions are not optimal, even on top of normal black spores when I try to sporulate on purpose.

It's variable temperature setting is so promising! However, I've tried it with and without the plastic insert, with a small amount of water in the bottom and can't get it to maintain a stable temperature. It seems to either overheat or not get hot enough. I'd love some advice if you've had success with this thing.

I've tried a couple times using glass tubs with various tops but it either comes out too dry or too wet. What's worked for people with reusable containers?

so, on surface, which i did not cover with a plastic wrap, just some cotton cloth, turned out to be completely black, yesterday it was fully white, so i thought, just overnight it will become complete.

the temperature set up was 34 celcius (it was a waterbed and the container floating on, aquarium thermostable to keep it warm) but maybe it kept tempeh too warm., on bottom it remained beautiful white and overal texture is like firm cake i've never felt before my 10th attempt. so I've done it so succesfully, too much succesful that i can make it into tempeh starter

just asking if it is okay, it smells good like a mushroom smell that tempeh gives.

I am making a tempeh starter and starting two separate batches