Thanks Steph - I'm glad you found the video useful!

Thanks Lulu, I'm glad you found the video useful! :)

Thanks Timo - Tempe orek is one of my favorites, always have it when I eat at the Warteg!!

Hi Bellywood - hanks for the comments and subscribing! Just to let you know, we won't be on Leather Lane on Thursday (2nd June) due to the bank holiday. In fact we won't be there for a few more weeks as we focus on the wholesaling side of things (to get more 'proper' fresh tempeh out there on restaurant menus). When we return we'll be doing Tuesdays and will update our social media accounts to let you know. Regarding incubating tempeh, traditionally in Indonesia banana leaves are used. Unfortunately, like most places, plastic has taken over. But if you're making smaller batches it's great to use banana leaves which can be obtained frozen from most Chinese / E Asian shops and supermarkets. You don't also need to pierce banana leaves - they allow enough penetration naturally to ferment tempeh really well. Other things can be used - I made some great tempeh in a de-seeded red pepper once (cut in half and then put back with rubber bands - worked really well and had a nice capsicum flavour. There are lots of ways of doing so!!

@@thetempehman2695 thanks for the speedy and detailed response! Banana leaves - fascinating. I've seen it sold wrapped in a banana leaf I guess I should have put two and two together. Gutted you won't be around on Thursday, I've got a great Malaysian place in mind to try instead, at least a little nearer to home. 👍

We do sell our dehulled beans as a separate item www.thetempehman.com/shop/4595078176 but this is only helpful if you are in the UK, which it seems from your accent that you may not be. I'll look to post another video on dehulling beans. In the meantime, here's a quick run down: Traditionally in Indonesia you will do a double boil, which means boiling the beans after the first initial wash (as well as after the soak stage). Skins are usually removed straight away while still hot in the tempeh factories - where they have hulling machines - but for home tempeh making I'd suggest leaving them to soak overnight after boiling. The skins will then soften and you can remove them the following day. You won't need to add vinegar at the soak stage as the skins will reduce the Ph of the water. If only doing a small batch (500g or so) I find the easiest way is to gently 'mix/pound/twist' with closed fists aiming down into the pan of beans and water. This will loosen the skins which float to the top. It will take some time but is great for releasing any inner frustrations! You're looking at at least 10-15mins, most likely longer. If your drain the water and floating skins gently into a colander they can be used as compost (or cattle feed, as in Indonesia). You'll need to do this many times as soya beans have a magical way of seeming to produce more skins than the actual beans themselves. After repeatedly, 'crush-drain-rinse', you'll have loosened and removed the skins. Before the hulling machines became widespread (stone grinding wheels) the hulling would often be done by the tempeh makers' kids in vats by treading them for hours, like in old wineries. Something a few older fold may still remember in Indonesia, and not missed I'd imagine. Anyway, I digress... after hulling, you can then just continue with the tempeh making as per the video. You won't need to boil them for quite as long, most likely, but it will depend on the type of bean. Often beans with skins on can also be much dirtier so you may need to wash them more at first. I hope this helps and I'll try to get a quick video up about this to make it clearer. Thanks for watching and good luck with the tempeh making!! :)

yes, it's 500g! :) These instructional videos typically accompany kits I send out where the soya beans are pre-bagged for use. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the feedback Nic, it's genuinely appreciated! I'll look into putting up a shortened edited version when I get the chance. The tempeh making video is mainly intended to be watched in shorter 2/3 min stages to accompany the instructions card included with he tempeh making kits, rather than one longer sitting. The idea was for it to be quite detailed to help avoid common pitfalls which can negatively impact the quality of tempeh produced. However, I appreciate that they may indeed be too long for many people so will do my best to include a shortened version for those who would rather get a more general overview. Thanks again for you honest feedback and good luck with the tempeh making - if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch anytime! :)

Hi Eilidh, to be honest it's hard to say without knowing a bit more - or seeing things really. With regards to drying, I don't like the towel method (and it's really not hygienic either which doesn't help to make good tempe). If you don't have a sieve or colander, and it's a relatively small quantity of beans, you could just try 'flipping' them repeatedly in a mixing bowl - kind of holding the bowl and tossing them up so they rise up in the bowl and then fall down again - and keep doing it, for 5-10mons until they've cooled - it should take long. This airs the beans - the thing with drying is, we actually don't really need to 'dry' them because the heat will evaporate any moisture, what we are actually doing is cooling them down but preventing the creation of condensation as this happens. If we cool them while they are 'aired' this build up of moisture will be prevented (either with sieve/colander or by 'flipping') and you should end up with warm (not hot) and dry beans.

As for the heat mat vs warm cupboard. If the heat mat gives off irregular hot bursts of heat then I'd abandon that and go for the warm cupboard. We want a gentle steady warmth. If incubation becomes too hot (even intermittently) then that is bad for the tempeh. I'd rather have 26C consistently than the temperature alternating and getting too high at points - you don't really want to go above 32C.

Bacteria, moisture or over-heating.. can all be detrimental. Overheating sometimes causes 'patches', so the edges might be ok (because it's cooler there) but in the middle it seems looser and the beans not as firmly bound by mycelium. Moisture can also cause a similar thing but that's very easy to correct - just remember, it's not about the drying but the correct cooling. Sorry I couldn't have been of more help but hope this may help. Also, check the culture is good, a weak starter culture makes things very difficult and can cause no end of problems and mis-identifying causes. Good Luck!! - I might do another video as a general one - this was really to accompany kits I used to send out, but the ingredients were all ideal for tempeh making so no issues would result from weaker culture, bean dehulling (because I'd send out pre-hulled ones). A more general video may prove useful to some people. Keep trying, you'll crack it in the end I'm sure!