Lalibela Farm
Celebrating the Sacred Task of Agriculture
Lalibela Farm OrganicTempeh
***Looking for recipes? Click here***
What is Tempeh?
Tempeh is a traditional Indonesian food made by a natural fermentation process of soybeans. Our tempeh provides a unique, rich source of (LOCAL!) vegetarian protein that contains a huge list of essential nutrients including B-vitamins, which is hard to find in vegetarian/vegan foods. The fermentation process breaks down the soybeans into an easily digestible food that has a meaty texture and a slightly mushroomy-nutty flavor.
For vegans and vegetarians, tempeh is a great alternative to heavily processed vegetarian proteins, as it is much easier for your body to digest because of the natural fermentation process, as well as being made from whole beans- it is very close to it's whole-food form.
About Our Organic Tempeh
We make our MOFGA certified organic Tempeh on our farm in small, weekly batches in a commercial kitchen. Our Tempeh is not pasteurized, like some of the mass-produced Tempeh on the market.
Tempeh making is an amazing process, and we absolutely love doing it! You can be sure that each batch is made with love and perfection!
Tempeh Varieties
We currently have two varieties of certified organic Tempeh:
1) The first is the traditionally made, all-Soybean Tempeh. The beans are locally and organically grown. This Tempeh has a delicious nutty flavor & is tender, yet firm.
2) Our second variety, Black Bean Tempeh, is made from Organic Black Turtle Beans. This Tempeh is a creamy, delicious, soy-free Tempeh. We are hoping to use local Black Beans after this year's bean harvest. **(Many steps are taken in our process to keep the Black Bean Tempeh production seperate from the Soybean Tempeh production. However, we do use shared equipment that is cleaned between uses.)
Our Ingredients:
Our Soy Tempeh is made from whole, organic (non-gmo) Soybeans grown by Henry Perkins at Bull Ridge Farm in Albion, Maine. Henry grows MOFGA certified organic soybeans and sunflowers, and is making organic sunflower oil! We also use organic Soybeans grown by Reisner Farm in Skowhegan, Maine. Starting in the 2011 growing season, we will be growing a small amount of organic soybeans as well, and plan to grow all of our own beans entirely, by the 2012 season!
Our Black Beans we are currently using are certified organic, but not Maine grown. We will also be growing all of our own Black Beans by the 2012 season.
We use Tempeh Culture (Starter) from The Tempeh Lab/The Farm in Tennessee. The Farm is largely responsible for bringing awareness of Tempeh to our American culture.
Lastly, we use local, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. The vinegar is produced by Sewall's Orchard from Lincolnville, Maine and is certified organic by MOFGA.
TEMPEH PRESS:
1) October 20, 2009: Check out this wonderful article written by Avery Yale Kamila in the Portland Press Herald about Lalibela Farm Tempeh: Thanks Avery! http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=290850&ac=Food
2) October 23, 2009: Our friend, Brad Bowman writes a wonderful food blog called Cornucopasetic. He included our Tempeh in a recent blog: http://mazirian.blogspot.com/ (see the October 23, 2009 entry) Thanks Brad!
3) October 25, 2009: Another friend of ours, Meg Wolff, who is an author and has a macrobiotic food blog, mentioned us in here writing: http://http://www.becomingwhole.typepad.com/ Thanks Meg!!
4) March 2010: We were mentioned in Maine. The Magazine in their March edition! Read it here.
5)April 4, 2010: Read a blog written by Avery Yale Kamila about our Black Bean Tempeh here.
6) April 5, 2010: Here is another blog from Brad Bowman!
7) April 12, 2010: Mitten Machen, a vegan recipe blog, featured our Tempeh. Read it here.