Make Your Own Tofu, Tempeh, Miso
 

Has anyone ever tried to make their own fermented soy products s/a tofu, tempeh, miso, tamari, etc?

I've made a fresh, garbanzo bean tofu, (I think that I posted this recipe here a few years ago.) It was good, but not really fermented. I just ordered some fermenting starters online and I'm going to try my hand at making homemade tempeh and maybe some miso too. Both of these can be made with just soy beans, or with a combo of soy, rice, barley, millet and other grains. I'm excited about this! I sometimes have a hard time finding tempeh in the stores, the DH and I both really love it and it's super healthy. It's also kind of expensive, so making my own will save money too.

Let me know if you've tried making tempeh and if so, send out some tips...thanks!

~ C

I didn't go to the family Thanksgiving but my hubby raved about the from scratch loaf my son made. I think it was basically tempeh from the description. We have so many different backgrounds and such wonderful access to various food types here that many of the chain stores carry tempeh and other options -- but if my son said he made it from scratch that probably means from beans so I'll find out!

I just received a book on fermenting grains, soy beans, etc. OMG! This is the most informative book I've ever found on the subject. I'm in fermenting heaven! I'm excited to start my fermenting journey in the kitchen. The book is titled: "Miso - Tempeh - Natto & Other Tasty Ferments, A Step-by-Step Guide to Fermenting Grains and Beans," by Kirsten K. Shockey & Christopher Shockey.

For many years, I made dairy cheeses s/a brie, red linens, blue, cheddar, etc. I loved making them and of course, eating them. But I've moved on to a diet that has little, or no dairy in it and I've really missed the cheese. I do now buy a nice, almond cream cheese at the store, but it's super expensive. So, I started looking for cultures and techniques that I could use with nut milks and grains. It turns out that you can ferment beans, nuts and grains to make cheese, yogurt and other interesting foods and some taste very similar, if not even better than dairy cheeses. YES! Other items they talk about in the book are Koji/Amazake, Stinky Tofu and Chao, Dosas, Poha Idli, Tua Nao, Myanmar Tofu...lots of exotic stuff. There's some really good technical information about fermenting and equipment in the book too.

I know, this topic is a little, "out there," for many of you, but if fermenting is your thing, then you should check this book out.

~ C

We're big on "live" foods, which include fermenting but so far we haven't done much ourselves. Decades ago I did make my own yogurt and kefir but haven't done it lately. I mean, I can get it in the stores now!

Saurkraut, pickles, and olives are all on our ready to eat list -- so far neither of our doctors is restricting our salt intake. I tell hubby that kimchee is just saurkraut with chili flakes in it, but so far he hasn't done much more than a test taste or two. Since he's gone keto though, his consumption and ability to withstand pepper heat has gone up tremendously, I think he should give it another try.

There are all sorts of Tofu, most people are surprised. It comes in styles, firmness, aged/cured/treated, all sorts of ways and then area specialties. Depending on what you are doing and what results you want, draining/pressing the tofu is almost always called for.

Yesterday I was planning on meeting up with my son this weekend to ask him about the tempeh thing he made and to give him the Vegan Tamales I started making yesterday. Did half the masa, yesterday was with a spicy mushroom mixture, and today I'm stirring in a can of niblets corn into the rest of the masa and making it more like a corn bread wrapped in corn husk.

But since then, the people who have a pair of dogs I am interested in called an the hubby called, good news is no work Saturday but he made a hair appointment, and then bowling date Sunday morning. Anyway, I haven't forgotten. I'll also ask my son if he knows the book, if not sounds like something he'd like.

So...I am trying my hand at homemade miso. Some of the starters that I ordered arrived a couple of days ago, including a bag of barley Koji. (Barley that has been inoculated with a specific fungus that is used to make miso.) I made a batch of, "Barley Miso," this morning. It smells amazing! Not that hard to make...pretty easy...cheap too. One batch made a lot of miso! I think that I have about 2 quarts of it. South River Miso sells their delicious, Barley Miso in jars, at around $16/lb, (approx. 8 fl oz.) I think that I may have about 6, or 7 jars worth in my batch.

Of course, it's going to take a long time to ferment and age properly, about 6 months to a year and a lot of things can happen between now and then. I may have to throw the whole thing out, or I may have something absolutely exquisite...who knows. I'll keep you posted as I look in on it from time to time.

~ C

I just completed my first batch of soybean tempeh...!!! It turned out beautiful! I haven't tasted it yet, but it smells divine.

I invested in making a water bath, fermentation box out of an inexpensive ice chest, an aquarium pump and bubbler and an aquarium heater. I spent a total of $36 on the set up, which I thought was well worth it, since I plan to make a lot of tempeh and other fungi inoculated foods.

I was worried because the heater is not adjustable and is just a couple of degrees cooler than what is recommended in the recipe, but it worked out fine. We did have a scare when the heater came unplugged somehow in the middle of the inoculation. The water bath became cold and I thought that we lost the entire batch. I was bummed. But, we plugged it back in and I woke up this morning to a beautiful, snowy carpet of white fungi growing all over and through my soybeans.

The recipe made 8 blocks of tempeh. The grocery store sells blocks about the same size, (on sale, mind you,) for $2.99, so that works out to around $24 worth of tofu. My beans cost around $5 and the culture was about $0.50 worth of an $11 bag. Not a bad deal!

My next try at it will be all soybeans again, but the batch will be about 50% bigger, so that I have thicker blocks in the end. (Mine came out a little thin.) After that, I'm going to try some more exotic tempehs s/a garbanzo bean tempeh, farro/quinoa tempeh, corn tempeh and the craziest one...coconut, cocoa nib tempeh.

I'm now moving on to koji. I'll let you know how I fare.

~ C

Update...I checked on my miso today. It's fermenting along. It looks gross. It's not spoiled, or anything like that, but it has developed a layer of liquid on the top, which is normal. How can something this ugly taste that good? It smells very nice though.

We've also been eating the tempeh that I made. I've been keeping it in the freezer, which I've never done with tempeh before. After thawing, it's a little on the soft and crumbly side, but it still tastes great. I don't think that the strands of fungi are quite as strong after freezing, so the tempeh is a little more, "relaxed." That's my guess anyway.

~ C