Soybean and Kamut® tempeh: A good batch

Today’s batch is pretty pedestrian: 1.5 cups soybeans and 1.5 cups intact whole-grain Kamut® (organically raised khorasan wheat), measured before cooking and cooked separately. Here they are bagged in a Ziploc Fresh Produce bag, with 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a packet of tempeh culture starter added and mixed well to ensure the starter culture is evenly distributed. 

The batch is now in my incubator, where it will reside for 24 hours. Then it will probably be ready 48 hours after that. 

An earlier post describes in detail how to make tempeh and includes the guidelines that I’ve found to give the best chance of success — and in fact I’ve not had a failed batch since posting that method.

Click any photo to enlarge it.

1 day later

The first 24 hours has allowed the fungus to establish itself well, with the even growth showing that the starter culture was well mixed. At this point, the incubator box is not needed and is even somewhat undesired: continued high heat will induce sporting (black spots) that, though edible, are unsightly. And once the mycelium gets going, the batch throws off a lot of heat, so in a insulated box the temperature will rise sharply.

So at this point I move the batch to the tabletop, where it rests on a raised rack. Normally it will be read i two more days: Monday around noon, today being Saturday.

2 days later

The batch looks exceptionally good after 48 hours: thick, even mycelium growth and coverage and no sign of sporing. Some would stop the fermentation at this point, but I prefer to let it grow another day.

The slab is already fairly strong and rigid, but another 24 hours will improve that, and the mycelium will be thicker.

My diet includes having beans and (intact whole) grain at each meal, and dicing some of this tempeh and including it in a stir-fry or semi-chili will meet that requirement easily and deliciously.

Done after 3 days and 4 hours

On the left is the slab cut free of the bag, and on the right is a cross-section view as I cut the slab to put it into storage containers to refrigerate. This batch did exceptionally well — lovely smooth, velvety mycelium totally coating the slab with no trace of sporing. The slab at the end was warm, solid, and with good rigidity. The last-day post also has a photo of the slab in the bag.

I don’t think I’ve made a better batch than this one, and my timing was perfect. On Thursday as I cut a section from the previous batch (chana dal and Kamut), I thought it was time to start a new batch, so I soaked 1.5 cups of soybeans overnight. On Friday, I cooked those and (separately) 1.5 cups of Kamut, then put them, bagged, into the incubator. Today I used the last of the previous batch and the new batch is ready to go.