Is tempeh really 'cheap and smelly'?
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)