Cultures for Health Tempeh Starter | | All-Natural Ingredients | Gluten Free, Non GMO

While it works, it's terribly expensive. So the first thing I did was put together a starter, mixing freshly cooked rice with a bit of rice flour, then added one packet - all mixed well together. Into the incubator it went. Within 12 hours, I had mycelium starting. In 24 hours, it was covered in white fur. At 36 hours, it started to get the black/gray spots I was hoping for. At 40 hours, it had black all over with spores, and time to dehydrate, power in the coffee grinder, and mix with sanitized rice flour. Voila - 1 million dollars worth of starter (at this price). I tested the new starter culture, and it works find. Now it sits in my freezer in a mason jar, because it will take me years to get through all this. Although expensive, you only have to purchase this once per lifetime. I'll be sharing my new starter with friends and a few family members who have shown interest, so they don't have to spend the $30 like I did.

These were absolutely delightful. I was surprised by the spores that were in the packets. I made a tempeh with mung beans, rice vinegar, wakame & this starter wrapped in banana leaves. It tasted like a mix of porcini, chanterelle & portobello mushrooms once air fried, or roasted. I'm a little upset that I didn't have ikura, or truffles on hand to go with it. Would definitely purchase again. One caveat about this is that the directions stated that the fermentation process takes 72 hours. Would allow for more time in temperate environments (between 60-80F with no relative humidity) since it took between a week & a half to 2 weeks for the tempeh to ferment.

I was so pleased that my first attempt at making tempeh was successful. My end product was deliciously nutty and had a complex umami flavor I've never experienced in the store bought kind. I followed the included directions exactly, with a few minor adjustments based on recommendations of Sandor Katz: 1. I found the de-hulling part a bit daunting at first. The Cultures for Health instructions recommend de-hulling by hand by massaging the soaked soybeans in a bowl of water and scooping out/straining the hulls that float to the top. I found that when I did this, I was left with a mushy mess, with not many floating hulls and many still attached to even the broken apart beans. While it did help to break the beans up, I found that simply boiling them and then skimming off the foam that contained the hulls was much easier. 2. I also used raw organic apple cider vinegar instead of distilled white vinegar. For incubation, I placed a seedling heat mat on top of a cookie rack, placed that in a plastic container, put the tempeh on top of the heating pad, and closed the lid. I wrapped the plastic container in towels for extra insulation. My temperature did fluctuate a bit (sometimes dropping to 82 degrees and sometimes going up to 92-93), but I had mycelium growing by the 24 hour mark. At this time, I placed the heating pad next to the tempeh, rather than on top of it, because I noticed that the area touching the heating pad was too hot and was not growing any fungus. At the 32 hour mark, I removed the heating pad from the container completely. My tempeh was done after 40 hours. Another note: my tempeh had a really strong stinky mushroom/ammonia smell when I first removed it from the incubator. I was worried it was bad. After wrapping it in plastic and placing it in the fridge in the morning, I came home from work 9 hours later to find that it had a pleasant white mushroom/yeasty smell. After panicking and researching, the consensus was to trust your nose. Not sure why it was so pungent at first, but it was not an indication that the tempeh was bad. Also, the seller was great. My first package arrived with a damaged packet of culture, and they quickly sent me a replacement free of charge. Will definitely be buying from them again.

good tempeh starter, I would buy again!

My first batch of tempeh turned out half- white and half black because I used Ziploc and poked holes in it with a needle from downstairs, where there's a possibility of mould spores flying around because of the flood. But the following batches I made using a glass tupperware with a ceramic wrap to cover the majority of the top with little slits on sides for oxygen circulation. I put the tray in the oven, turning it on bread-proof for 5min 3 times a day with the light on. In 48 hours it comes out white and fuzzy and tastes much better than the store bought tempeh.