What is tempeh?

2022-10-29

Tempeh is a traditional Chinese fermented soy product seasoning. Tempeh uses black soybean or soybean as the main raw material, and uses the action of Mucor, Aspergillus or bacterial protease to decompose soybean protein. When it reaches a certain level, it is prepared by adding salt, wine, drying and other methods to inhibit the activity of enzymes and delay the fermentation process. to make. There are many types of tempeh, which can be divided into black tempeh and soybean tempeh according to the processing raw materials, and salt tempeh, light tempeh, dry tempeh and water tempeh according to taste.

What is tempeh?

Salted Black Bean, known as "Youshu" in ancient times, is also called "Addiction". The earliest record can be found in Liu Xi's book "Release Names and Diets" in the Han Dynasty, and it was praised as "the harmony of the five flavors and the need for it". There is also a record of "making soy sauce" in the book "Shijing" from the 2nd to the 5th century AD. The ancients used tempeh not only for seasoning, but also for medicine, and they valued it very much. "Han Shu", "Historical Records", "Qi Min Yao Shu" and "Compendium of Materia Medica" all have this record, and its production history can be traced back to the pre-Qin period.

According to records, the production of Chinese Salted Black Beans was first spread from Taihe County, Jiangxi Province, and then spread overseas through continuous development and improvement. The Japanese used to call Salted Black Beans In Can "natto", and later referred to the sugar natto invented in Japan. Salted Fermented Black Beans are also commonly eaten in Southeast Asian countries, but less popular in Europe and the United States.

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