pinto bean tempeh

Tempeh recipes to follow

This was my first attempt at tempeh, after purchasing the tempeh starter online at cultures for health.  I also used the recipe from that site. Used pinto beans because they are what I had on hand.  Read all about preparation before attempting.

The hardest part was finding the right temperature, but I found it...in my hot water heater room in the basement (its such a small room that it holds the heat to always be at around 83-86 degrees)  The problem most folks write about is the area being too hot.  Another highly recommended incubation set-up, would be a heating pad, under a wet bamboo steamer (with lid on), and keep your tempeh making in the steamer.  Keep a kitchen candy thermometer sticking out of the steamer to make sure it is between 80 and 90.  Too hot ruins it.
Make sure you "dry" the beans in a little saucepan before pressing and placing in your plastic bag (or banana leaves).  Also read that wet beans make for spoiled tempeh, you want the mixture very, very dry, but then it goes in a humid environment.

I was convinced that my attempt would fail because the mixture just seemed like a bunch of dry beans in a plastic bag, also, I did the "shortcut" for removing the hulls of  (spliting in food processor,then letting the hulls rise while soaking.  I had many whole beans, but the website said don't worry about it, so I didn't.


Its a little unnerving and scary seeing the actual fuzzy white mold, but, thats the good stuff, its delicious, much better than purchased!

Best of luck if you want to take on tempeh making.   Very easy and low-cost, once you have the set-up and the correct temperature environment.