Later On

The Wife told me that she knew that I would love a laptop, which is why she so strongly recommended that I get one. And get one I did: first an HP enormous laptop that I immediately returned because I started having problems from the get-go and the on-line adviser said that the OS was somehow munged.

Then I tried a netbook that I got with reward points. It was simply too small: could not read the screen.

Then I got a regular Dell, and again with the reading problems plus the touchpad was hypersensitive and I was constantly sending the cursor into outer space by brushing it accidentally.

Then I got to try out a couple of MacBooks on the trip East and found them quite workable.

So here we are: I’m sitting in my chair, wonder what fungus it is that makes tempeh—and is tempeh originally from Thailand? (I know it’s from SE Asia.)

Yep, the mold is a fungus, and that mold produces no significant amounts of B12. However, in Indonesia (where tempeh originated) a bacterium also is part of the fermentation, and that bacterium seems to produce B12. In the West, however, the bacterium is not used—great care is taken to use only pure strains of the mold—so a tempeh-oriented eater should make sure to get adequate B12 (which most of us get from meat protein).

I was interested to see in the Wikipedia article that Swedish scientists made tempeh with barley and oats in 2008. I swear I’ve seen multigrain tempehs on the shelf in Whole Foods for some years—but of course 2008 is indeed some years ago. Still, that doesn’t sound likely (and it is in Wikipedia), but it raised an interesting question: why barley and oats? Was that to get a complete protein? But barley and oats are both grains, so they would be deficient in the same way, wouldn’t they?

So a Google search on “barley and oats complete protein” produced this useful note by bethany646 on eHow:

Vegan or vegetarian and not getting enough protein? Learn how to combine monocots and dicots to make a complete protein. These complete proteins can be converted by your liver into all the essential amino acids your body needs for cellular metabolism.

1. First you need to chose a monocot, or a seed that can’t be split. For example, a corn kernel can’t be split, at least not without destroying it. Choose from rice, corn, wheat, barley, or oats. These are just some common monocots when actually there are thousands to choose from.

2. Next, decide what kind of delicious dicot, or seed that splits to accompany your monocot. Some dicots include rice, lentils, peas, peanuts, and almonds.

3. Now that you’ve chosen your monocot and dicot, eat them together to make a yummy complete protein. For example, a whole wheat peanut butter sandwich, barley and lentil salad, or peas and corn. My favorite is rice with black beans. Add a little olive oil and cilantro and you’ve got yourself a very delicious complete protein. Enjoy!

So barley and oats are not a complete protein. They should have used barley and rice, for example.

Great to have such easy access to information. If I’d had this as a kid, you would never have gotten me outside.

UPDATE 1: Then I got to wondering about best sources for B12. I’m pleased to see sardines high on the list.

UPDATE 2: Lots of tempeh info at this link, including how to make your own: http://www.tempeh.info/