Talk:Tempeh

The article says that tempeh is a good source of dietary fiber, however, I checked nutritiondata.com, and that indicated that there was NO dietary fiber. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.30.37.12 (talk) 16:39, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

earlier comments

Tempeh turns brown in a few days in the refrigerator. What is this? --Sobolewski 19:48, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I think that's the culture that caused it to turn from plain soybeans into tempeh in the first place - it's just continuing to grow. As far as I know, it's fine to eat the parts with the spots; never had any trouble. CDC (talk) 05:49, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It is either damp or fungus grow. If you fried them, it'll be okay. But since I'm in Indonesia, I wouldn't touch it, and buy a new one.

But spoiled tempe is used for flavouring gudeg.Aditthegrat 10:15, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

imagine if the soybean and fungus going from white, then brownish then greyish, then black. for photo, can't have it right now. i'm in bandung 06:47, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Bongrek acid

lethal dose to human of this bongkrek acid???. needed foto tempe bongkrek.Daimond 17:13, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Tempe similar to Soy sauce making process

I think it is absurd to say "Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan." There is no history trace about soybean in Indonesia. You can't say it is "unique" since the plant are not Indonesia origin.

In addition, the tempe fermentation process are similar to Soy sauce making process. Where the soybean are cooked and mixed with grains flour to promote microorganism growth during the fermentation process. Soy sauce are made from soaking fermented soybean into salt water. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.53.52.11 (talk) 11:41, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Similarity does not mean they are the same. The type of fungus used to make soy sauce is also different. Soybean does not originate from indonesia but tempeh is a uniquely indonesian food. You seem a little confused. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.82.94.37 (talk) 16:47, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Agree.. Tempeh (or tempe) is originated from Indonesia, but it's main ingredient, soybean (Glycine max sp.), is not originated from Indonesia. If the soybean plant were really originated from China and spread to its surrounding countries (Korea/Japan, etc) then to global via trade routes & colonializations, as the rice plant utilization for staple food and planting techniques spread across the country and its nearbies (Korea/Japan, including Indo-China region: Vietnam/Thai/Laos/etc), then it's possible that some (12th century or earlier) Chinese traders have made trade contacts to Indonesian natives and introduced the soybean in Indonesia and taught how to plant and use them as food (such as tofu-making, which is so old even most Indonesians thought it's their own local food like those Chinese noodles (Indo: mie, bihun [rice noodle]), Chinese meat-balls (Indo: bakso), Chinese eggrolls (Indo: lumpia), or dim-sum cakes (Indo: siomay), to mention some, until the cheap-access of internet-age show them the contrary. Many of these Chinese foods were adapted to local-taste and culture in the process, no wonder they didn't know the real origin of those foods). I think, some of the Chinese traders were settled down in a region of Indonesia and opens a Chinese restaurant or a food store and making+selling tofu, but some of the cooked/boiled soybeans were left on open air for long period by accident. Possibly, the air were contaminated with spores of the 'tempeh fungus' which is so many on Indonesia soil and settled down on the 'culture' base, which is the warm full-of-nutrition cooked soybeans. The person who's responsible for making tofu by sudden need to take a break (possibly taking a dump almost forever :D) and forgot to continue the tofu-making process and left it over for 1 night. The next day, he just found out that he forgot it and run to the soybeans he left yesterday and found out that it's already has white threads all over the soybeans. Normally, it's regarded as a process failure (spoilt beans) and should be thrown away, but the maker is so poor and instead of dumping it, he just packing it using tofu frame that is used for prssing bean curd 'dough' into tofu shape, and wrapped it with cloth just like tofu-making. He left it on the storage for a moment until he ready to cook it, and when he opened it, he found the soybeans+fungus pack have been turned into what we know now as 'tempeh form'. He tasted it, and seems palatable to him, even feels a bit 'earthy'-taste. He cooked it (either boiling/simmering it like tofu or frying/saute it like green beans, we don't know at this moment, including which is the 1st done) and seems edible and can be enjoyed like a normal food. On the next day, after he didn't feel sick by the 'tempeh' consuming, then he introduced the food to his friend/colleagues, and seemed they "[√] Like it!" (it's reaching over 1 trillion clicks on FB site alone! :D). Whether, 'he' is the native Indonesian labor/servant/cook trained by the Chinese boss or the Chinese person itself (they have been long known to be boss+servant in one, usually on middle-lower class in any jobs/occupations, be it merchant/trader/farmer/teacher/etc, esp. when no help is available at the moment - nowadays, by local/modern culture absorption effects we may see less of this 'weird' combo on them) is unknown. What we knew that from incomplete history of 'tempeh' the predicted-around 12th century kingdoms in Indonesia seems liked the new food introduced to them by 'him' (the word 'tempe' and 'kedelai' were mentioned in some old scripts). The lack of mentioned the 'inventor' of tempeh may be attributed to the lack of honoring for the lower class servants/people and settled-down foreigners when found something new to the mass in those nearly-illiterate 'old monarchial' days (usually only those important royal-blooded or respected by the kingdom ones got recorded), not mentioning to the non-standard simple archiving methods and archive storage techniques, that may lead some credible important documentations to 'tempe' may be lost in storage or in transfer process. But one thing is logical, not until someone (possibly Chinese traders by ships or land traders [Chinese or Indo-Chinese] via Thai-Vietnam regions) brought the edible soybeans to Indonesia land (Java island in particular), Indonesia wouldn't have its own unique food from soybeans called 'tempe' natively (or 'tempeh' in English). The Chinese traders seem reluctant to bring 'tempe' to China mainland, may be when they heard the process is similar to 'packing & baking spoilt soybeans' they thought it's a rejected food in China (original tofu-making needs fresh unspoilt soybeans), why would they bring it to China on the way back (later on, many years after, some japanese+korean people will love those spoilt soybeans 'rejected' products so much, even those smell foul, badly & slimy ones :D), may be that's why China never have 'tempe' food in their soybean-based food product list and its people almost never have heard of it in a correct way, other than the 'spoilt soybeans pack/bake from Indonesia', which is when processed correctly and consumed before really spoilt, will taste so fresh & good (if ever spoilt, i usually throw it to my alligators, they seems like it so much, thinking it's a rotten meat may be...). WCh1974 13:39, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Amusing tale, young chap. Though, not all tempeh were made from soy, it just happens that tempeh kedelai (soy tempeh) is the most famous type. It's more plausible that the natives discovered how to make tempeh from other food materials, then applied the knowledge to make soybean tempeh when soybean became more common. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.71.170.249 (talk) 03:55, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Recipes

• Is there a reason (policy or something) that there are no recipe links on this page? I'd like to add some but don't want to step on anyone's feet. Bposert 00:21, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

• G'day Bposert, Wikipedia is not a recipe book. However, Wikibooks has a cookbook where recipes are welcome, and we can easily add a link to those recipes. Actually, I've been planning to expand the tempeh page there into a recipe for making tempeh - perhaps you can beat me to it! Feel free to also add recipes for using tempeh, as separate articles. Webaware 04:10, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks! Bposert 23:59, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • OK, there is now a recipe for making tempeh. Webaware 14:41, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Details of manufacture

This wiki is lacking in detail of processing information. Could someone add more facts about how it is made? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.92.14.172 (talk) 01:03, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Spelling

Why does the article title have an additional "h" after "Tempe"? Correct Indonesian spelling for this word is "Tempe" without the "h". Since this is an Indonesian food, Indonesian spelling should be used, as used in the Indonesian version of wikipedia. 193.136.124.221 21:00, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree with this opinion, but it seems to me that nobody on this side of the wiki cares much for authenticity. 125.161.201.158 08:39, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree too, although I'm a Persian. But this type of bias is not unique to Tempe, all over wikipedia there is a clear Western bias, particularly on articles involving Asia and Mid-Asian articles. Kamasutra was an ancient Indian view of soul mates and love, out of all the lovely script, only 1 section talked slightly about sex, but now it has turned into a multi-million dollar sex scandal. Kamasutra has almost nothing to do with sex, but instead they choose the text's that emphasize on sex for translation. They don't bother citing Indian's on the subject, but cite dirty minded Israeli and American authors. Quiet opposite to Indian tradition, they wrote "Indian tradition includes following the "four main goals of life",[12][13] known as the purusharthas:[14] 1). Dharma: Virtuous living. 2). Artha: Material prosperity. 3). Kama: Aesthetic and erotic pleasure.[15][16] 4). Moksha: Liberation." citing Hopkins. What the f*ck does hopkins know about Indian tradition. Any Indian will tell you the 4 written above are the opposite to Indian tradition. This Wikipedia is more like Westernperspectivepedia. They want to sexualize everything. I won't be suprised if they soon said Tempe helps you with erections. --78.86.117.164 20:43, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Hey guys. I care. Is this wording good enough for you? "Tempeh, or Tempe in the original Javanese, …" The thing is, Wikipedia is a Western initiative, and this is the English localisation, so surely you should expect some Western bias? If someone else can think of a better introduction, I'd like to see it (not that I think mine is the pinnacle of all intros, just being honest).--Rfsmit (talk) 23:21, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

And on another note -- come on, the place to debate the Kamasutra article is on that article's talk page, surely? --Rfsmit (talk) 23:24, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

It is not uncommon to see tempeh with an h so I don't see what's particularly shocking with it, even if it's not the correct indonesian spelling Cheekychico (talk) 01:08, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia shouldn't exhibit as a western bias. This is, however, the English Language article, and thus spelling should reflect that used in the English-speaking world.FrFintonStack (talk) 14:19, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

guys, I am Javanese. Tempeh is wrong! all indonesian know it as tempe. please anyone change it. i am still new, so i don't know how to do it. ThanksSermanprayogi (talk) 08:35, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm in favour for tempe (without "h"), shall we move the page to tempe? (Gunkarta (talk) 12:07, 10 August 2011 (UTC)).

Well, I'm from Indonesia too but I have no problem with the English spelling as long as the article also cite the original spelling in Indonesia. This is purely/merely 'advertising' method to popularize this good tasty food to world globally, especially in English-speaking countries. Wikipedia has this topic in Indonesian already for Indonesian readers, so I don't see why are you 'tempeh'-spelling contras ever bother visiting this English site and provoking others (the spelling is correct for English-speaking countries, if 'h' is not appended, they would say something like 'temph' or 'tempee' instead of actual 'tempe' as pronounced in Indonesian, got it? - some sources even mention 'tem-pay' for correct pronounciation in English so it can get as close as Indonesian's pronounciation - it's a matter of phonetic similarity, not text). FYI, this 'tempeh' spelling has been already popular in many countries, such as Belgium, USA, etc. BTW, do you think you Indonesian people has been properly change/call dumbly a 'cell-phone' (original term for cellular-system-based handset) into the stupid 'handphone' (all phone systems we have until today [PSTN, Wireless or Cordless, Cellular] were handled by hand, mind you) and abbreviate it into ridiculous 'HP' where the old very popular IT company is still exist and operational globally today? And nothing done to correct this false call to the device in question? Do you ever think why the Indonesian phone sellers want ever to change the globally known 'cell-phone' device calling into a stupid mindless only-Indo-people-knew-it 'handphone/HP' for no reason? It's purely "Marketing" POS.... but the one done by mindless Indonesian phone sellers is a real pathetic since they've made seemingly irrevocable mess (no telco system reference anymore and local-known [by local market force] only) and more to a commercial popular IT company name with the real stupid abbreviation (a clear display of how less-IT-intelligible the Indonesian people is in overall - Ya never knew HP/Hewlett-Packard' name before using its own very popular initial for marketing? You must be kiddin' me..:D LOL). For those 'tempeh'-spelling contras, "Oh, Behave!".... (Austin Powers puns intended) Correct your own stupid issues 1st, then may be the world will hear your 'protests'... Can you explain to the global IT company in question (that also have a branch in Indonesia) that you're not intentionally hurting their image as global big IT company and preventing them to sell their own-brand cell-phone or similar device since you stupid Indonesian people have taken their brand for a mere generic device calling? Obviously they can't use this "HP baru dari HP" advertising statement since we may think the company has changed its operation mode or field to a new one under the same company name, instead of the intended original message. Luckily, not all Indonesian smart-people follow this stupid calling (some Indonesian smarts & nerds still insisting to use the correct widely/globally-known 'cellular-phone' or 'cell-phone' (or CP in short, even almost hurts nothing but not advised) term instead of the rubbish unclear meaningless non-descriptive 'handphone/HP' term)... Someone has made a joke about this stupid issue, IIRC, a dialogue on an HP service center: "Okay, the HP number is 0875xxxx1234", "Sir? I'm sorry... Is it the cell-phone or the printer serial number?" (normally asked when the digits & format used on both were almost similar, there's no need to ask if there's no stupid new similar clashing abbreviation like this one - it will be even worse if HP even release its own cell-phone series later, would ya call it "HP HP"? No, it's not a typo in this stupid case).. what a needless mess... Final remark: Just face it guys, if you changed theirs, why they can't change yours? Ooops.. I'm sorry... they just add 'h' and still can be traced the original name/call by removing the 'h' suffix... but 'handphone/hp'? I can't trace it back to original name w/o searching on Wikipedia... xome1 11:35, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

External links

• The external link to the FAQ was broken that is why I substituted them for some working links. Someone undid my changes!

Can someone pls add links to http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~manfred/tempeh/ and http://www.tempeh.info in the external links section?

B12 bioavailability

On the subject of B12 bioavailability in tempeh: Sorry, I'm taking the "wiki" part of "Wikipedia" literally, and don't have time to learn how to make a full citation (though I'd welcome a tutorial, if anyone can point me there). So, here's a couple of references for someone more familiar with this process to get started with: Liem IT, Steinkraus KH, Cronk TC: Production of vitamin B-12 in tempeh, a fermented soybean food Appl Environ Microbiol 1977 Dec; 34(6):773-6.; Vitamin B12 Activity in Miso and Tempeh Delores D. Truesdell, Nancy R. Green, Phyllis B. Acosta Journal of Food Science Vol.52 No.2 pp.493-494, 1987; FAQ at Tempeh Shop Gainsville ("Does tempeh have B-12?"). Thanks to whoever get around to including these. --Rfsmit (talk) 20:11, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Alright, I learnt how to do it. It wasn't as hard as I thought. I've added the papers which support the presence of bioavailable B12, but I don't believe the guy who runs the Gainsville shop can be cited as an accurate reference for the dispute. Over to someone with l33ter Googling skillz...--Rfsmit (talk) 23:16, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

I believe the mention that tempeh has any active B12 vitamin should be removed, as this can lead people astray into thinking it is true. Tempeh has never been properly tested for the golden test of lowering methyl-malonic acid in blood serum, so until it has been proved otherwise, there is no evidence to suggest that tempeh has any presence of active, bio-available cobalamins. Traditional tempeh as found in Indonesia can have significant amounts of inactive (and perhaps active) analog forms of B12, but this is due to occasional, erratic contamination of analog-producing bacteria (such as Klebsiella pneumoniae). Usually speaking, in Western countries where hygiene standards are often more severe, the same doesn't seem to occur. For more information and sources, please visit http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/plant Cheekychico (talk) 01:05, 18 December 2008 (UTC)Cheekychico

References

I just added three new sources in response to some "citation needed" tags in the lede. All are viewable in Google Books, and The Book of Tempeh in particular might be worth checking out if anyone's looking for references. - Fullobeans (talk) 19:26, 6 May 2011 (UTC)