Is tempeh really 'cheap and smelly'?

According to Australian-trained tempeh expert Professor Tri Susanto of Malang's Brawijaya University, Indonesia's first president Sukarno once derided his country folk as "a tempeh race of people -- soft and smelly."

"Unfortunately, tempeh has long been associated with poverty and villagers, a cheap food for people who cannot afford meat," he said.

That is certainly not the situation now, particularly in the West where soy products are seen as wonder foods.

Tempe is made in Japan and there are reports of American stores selling tempeh burgers. There's even a tempeh ice cream. However the food is little known elsewhere outside Indonesia.

When Professor Susanto was studying fermented bean products at the University of New South Wales he made tempeh in the laboratory for his Indonesian colleagues hungry for their favorite food.

The food may be healthy, but the conditions under which it's made are far from the standards demanded by fastidious Westerners. In Malang about 500 home industries have formed a cooperative to lift quality and market their products.

A typical kampong operation involves mum, dad and the kids de- husking and boiling the beans.

The de-husking used to be done by treading with bare feet but most families now use a machine sold by the coop, which is also encouraging the use of stainless steel containers.

Squashing beans between hibiscus leaves makes the fermenting agent, or mold. This is added to the boiled beans. The mixture is then drained, put in shallow wooden trays and covered by pinholed plastic.

If the room is dark, well aired and the temperature right (Malang has an ideal climate of 25 degree to 30 degrees Celsius) the magic of incubation starts. Two days later, the beans have turned into a cheese-like cake ready for slicing and sale.

Most people in East Java buy tempeh fresh from daybreak vegetable sellers who get their supplies transported from Malang overnight. The scarcity of refrigerated transport is another impediment to industry growth.

Professor Susanto stressed that the mold was not a bacteria. While it was possible to make bad tempeh by prolonging or speeding fermentation the chance of illness was "less than 0.01 per cent," he said.

How can the first-time buyer spot "good tempeh"? A quality product won't crumble when cut and the beans bond well. If the mycelium (the creamy-white substance that covers the beans) has turned black, this is a sign of overfermentation.

(Duncan Graham)