Food

Tempeh

Indonesian fermented-soybean cake — cooked, dehulled soybeans inoculated with the mold Rhizopus oligosporus and incubated for 24–48 hours until the mold's white mycelium binds the beans into a firm, sliceable cake. A staple food of Java, Indonesia, with documented history of 200+ years; spread globally in the late 20th century through Indonesian diaspora and the vegetarian movement. Provides high-quality, predigested protein; B vitamins; and the fermentation-generated peptides and isoflavones that distinguish tempeh from unfermented soy. One of the most nutritionally-dense plant proteins.

How tempeh is made

Soak and cook soybeans — soybeans are soaked overnight, dehulled (the seed coats are removed by hand or by friction), then cooked until tender.
Acidify — vinegar is added during cooking; the slight acidity favors Rhizopus over competing molds.
Cool and inoculate — beans are cooled to ~85°F; [[tempeh-starter|Rhizopus oligosporus]] spores are mixed in.
Pack — beans packed into perforated containers (perforations allow the mold to breathe; without holes, the mold suffocates and competing molds take over).
Incubate — 24–48 hours at 85–88°F (~30°C). The mold colonizes the beans, growing through and around them. White mycelium becomes visible, eventually binding the beans into a firm cake.
Finish — the tempeh is fully developed when the mass is firm enough to slice and the mold has formed a uniform white surface; some traditions allow further development with sporulation (gray-black sporulation patches) for stronger flavor.

Varieties

Tempe kedele — the canonical [[soybean|soybean]] tempeh
Tempe gembus — made from tofu pulp (okara)
Tempe oncom — from peanut press cake; an Orange-mold variant
Other-substrate tempehs — [[chickpea|chickpea]], [[common-bean|black bean]], lentil, mixed-grain. The technique is generalizable.

Nutritional and culinary notes

The Rhizopus fermentation:

Predigests protein — the mold’s proteases break soy proteins into amino acids and small peptides
Reduces antinutrients — phytic acid is partially broken down; trypsin inhibitors are reduced
Increases B vitamins — particularly B12 (the mold itself doesn’t make B12, but B12-producing bacteria typically co-exist in traditional fermentation)
Generates isoflavone aglycones — more bioavailable than the glycoside forms in unfermented soy

Tempeh is sliced and pan-fried, deep-fried, grilled, or simmered. It absorbs marinades well; the dense texture and earthy, slightly mushroom-like flavor distinguish it from tofu.

Spread

Tempeh remained largely a Javanese food until the late 20th century. Indonesian diaspora brought it to the Netherlands and beyond; the vegetarian and natural-foods movements adopted it through the 1970s; it is now widely available globally.

Sources

The Book of Tempeh, William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi (1979)
Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy tempeh-tradition documentation
[[the-art-of-fermentation|The Art of Fermentation]], [[sandor-katz|Sandor Ellix Katz]]

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