Tempeh: The World's Oldest Documented Fermented Soybean

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Tempeh is the only major fermented soybean product that originated outside of China or Japan. It is Javanese — documented in the Serat Centhini (the 12-volume Javanese manuscript from 1814, recording events from the 1600s) as sambal tumpang, a dish made with over-fermented tempeh cooked in coconut milk with spices. The word *tempeh* (or *tempe* in Bahasa Indonesia) likely derives from the Javanese word for the white mycelium mat that binds the soybeans together. The fermentation agent is Rhizopus oligosporus or Rhizopus oryzae — a filamentous fungus that grows naturally on the leaves of hibiscus and teak trees in Java. The traditional starter (*usar*) was a leaf with naturally occurring Rhizopus mycelium — placed between layers of cooked soybeans, the fungus would colonise the beans within 24-48 hours, binding them into a firm cake.

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