Processed Soy = Evil

I always knew to think of processed soy products as evil, and here is one specific reason why: whole soybeans are bathed in the chemical solvent hexane to concentrate high-protein isolate. Usually, you can find soy-protein isolate in a lot of fake meats. But hexane is neurotoxic and, thus, "poses serious occupational hazards to workers, is an environmental air pollutant, and can contaminate food". Yes, it can be found on your soy food products if you don't buy organic. Luckily, in the US hexane is prohibited in organic products.

But the whole point of the article I read is that many of our 'organic' soybeans come from China, where organic oversight is so slack...

Process your own soy with mold, my friends. Let our microfloral allies do the work for us. Because mold ferments soybeans to make tempeh, it is actually more digestible than tofu.

Photo by Clearly Ambiguous

Fermenting Soybeans

I made my own tempeh again this past weekend! Since making it is a 2-3 day affair, it gave my weekend a nice rhythm.

Friday night: soak the soybeans
Upon waking Saturday morning: remove soybean skins + cut up the beans into smaller pieces
Saturday morning: cook the soybeans while making brunch
Saturday early afternoon: spread almost fully-cooked soybeans on baking sheet double lined with flat-woven towels to dry them
Saturday early evening: after mixing with some apple cider vinegar and powdered tempeh spores, spread the skin dry beans into baking dishes, then pop into oven with only the light on
Sunday morning: check to make sure some white mold is evident
Sunday late afternoon/early evening: remove tempeh from incubator when solid



Cut into pieces to be wrapped in plastic wrap to freeze for later consumption.


The first time I made tempeh, I had to incubate for 36 hours or so. And everything turned black! At least on the side that was exposed to the air.

Last night, I had my first taste from my second batch. It was more firm than my first batch, and I didn't cut the soybeans as much, so I could taste each individual bean. For the first time, I baked it in the oven and then added it to my Thai-ish whole-grain noodle dish, which I improvised with lots of caramelized onions, half a reconstituted ancho chile, some broccoli florets, one tomato, three mushrooms, soy sauce, peanut butter, homemade mango chutney with sesame oil drizzled on top. Delicious!