Wira Tempeh Starter (Ragi Tempe) 17.50 ounce (Pack of 1

Love this stuff! Always results in perfect tempeh. I keep it in the fridge and this bag will last me a lifetime!

You can make excellent tempeh at home using this starter. This starter is vigorous and inexpensive but comes with no directions to use. I use one teaspoon of starter to 2 cups dry beans. I like the beans from Laurasoybeans.com but any soybeans will work. Homemade tempeh is much better than the store bought stuff. Making tempeh is a learning process and a project that takes a couple of days. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and failed a couple times at first but have it down pretty well now.Guidelines: Bring 2 cups of dry soy beans to a boil then let them soak at least four hours. Some use hands to rub the hulls off the beans. This way takes 30-40 minutes. I use a potato masher to dehull the soaked beans. It takes about 5 vigorous grinding minutes. Then use multiple rinses to float and skim the hulls off and discard them. After this, boil the beans for 30 minutes. Drain the beans then spread them on a towel on a baking sheet to dry and cool. Once below about 90 degrees, stir beans WELL with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Then stir in one teaspoon of starter WELL. Bag them in ziplock bags and press them flat. Pierce holes all over both sides of bags about an inch apart. I use a toothpick. Lay bags on a wire rack. Put them some place they'll be at about 88 degrees till tomorrow. I put them in an unheated oven with just the oven light on. An Instant pot on LOW yogurt works too. Be creative. Use a thermometer. After about 20 hours they begin to make their own heat. Take them out of the warm place and let them mature on the countertop. If the tempeh gets too hot for too long (over about 96 degrees) it will die. Sadness. Finished tempeh is white and solid like a brick of brie cheese. Peel off the bag, slice tempeh and cook it. If it gets gray or black areas, this is okay. It's just happy and healthy and making spores. You can still eat it. Stinky or slimy or pink or orange. Pitch it. Try again. Best luck to you.

Shockingly easy. I just put a wire rack in my microwave to set the tempeh bags on. I took quart sized ziplock bags and poked them profusely with a needle. Then I filled them with the boiled, semi mashed and dried soybeans adding a few tbsp's of the starter. Placed on rack, left the microwave door cracked so that the incandescent light would stay on. Chamber temp was around 90f. Fermentation completed in 36 hours. Also tried with lentils and some other grain, can't remember but it worked perfectly well.

Tried my first batch, and it did not work on the yogurt setting in Instant Pot. Wasted my first batch.I thought the starter was dead, but decided to give it another go, since it was my first time making tempeh. I have fermented kombucha, yogurt, natto, and cabbage before, i'm not new to the fermentation.After reading the instructions, I realized that the 'normal' yogurt setting in Instant Pot gives temperature that is too high for tempeh. I pressed 'Yogurt' button, then I pressed 'Adjust' button, and saw that it can adjust to: Low (24), Normal (8), and High (boil). I made sure that it was set on 'Low'. Tempeh ferments at 85F-90F, while yogurt needs 120F.Another thing that I adjusted was losing the ziploc bag, since tempeh culture needs air. I put the hulled beans mixed with tempeh starter into a glass storage container about 1 inch thick to ensure it is getting enough air.And last important thing - soybeans need to be dry when adding the starter. I dried them on paper towel shortly after cooking. If beans are wet, the starter won't take.After these adjustments, it worked!! Looking forward to making many more batches!

I was so eager to try this. The bag has no instruction on how much it would apply for a bag. I tried 3 times with soybean, red bean, chickpea and none of them gave me anything. I put them into the oven with only light on and the temperature is about 37. After 3 days they all turned into black and at this moment I do not even have any desire to even try. I have some vinegar mixed with the cooked beans and that is why there is no mold whatsoever.i am so jealous of other successful buys whose photos made me cry. Wont buy it again as I tried 3 times and there is no instruction of how much I should apply to them so I did put a lot of the powder in the bag and hopefu they will grow in two days. When things have no instructions you got to suspect how it worked for others.

"The Wira brand worked well for me.I used it my first time making tempeh.I made Black bean tempeh using an imstantpot.The fermentation of the cakes completed between 27-32.5 hours,which is at the lower end of the typical time range.No instructions for amount of starter to use are provided,but that information is found in recipes and the starter amountssuggested are quite similar throughout.For myself I used a ratio of 3 grams starter per 1 cup (140 g) of dry black beans.Also, I used a 1 Tbsp. of vinegar per 1 cup of dry black beans.I chose this brand because it is economical and it does have good repute.I'm glad I chose it and will be able to sustainably make Tempeh."

First time making tempeh and this product was a success! Impressed and very pleased.I used great northern beans as a trial batch. Cooked them in the instant pot, cooled and dried them, added vinegar then starter. Placed a small batch in two stacked glass containers (less than 1 inch thick for each). Incubated in the instant pot on ‘less yogurt’ setting. Was likely done after 36 hrs but removed at about 42hrs due to schedule. Beautiful thick snowy white mycelium all through the cake - top and bottom. Sautéed as I do with store bought tempeh and it tasted yummy (a bit different due to different beans)!I’m so happy to have a success with my first batch!Placed starter in a freezer bag and will store in the freezer as suggested on a few websites. Should be good for 12 months that way.