Hi all,

First of all, I'm happy I've found this newsgroup. It's nice to see
that there are a few professional (and "amateur") veggie chefs around
who enjoy sharing their knowledge.

A few days ago, I received my order of tempeh starter from G.E.M.
Cultures and I made my first batch. I don't have an incubator so I used
the light in my stove as a heat source (I put the bag on the top stove
rack, right next to the light). Finally, about 2/3 of my bag of
inoculated soybeans formed into a cake. I made sure to mix in the
tempeh starter pretty well so I'm guessing that this happened because
the heat of the light didn't spread evenly on the bag (it's at the top
left corner in the deep end of the oven). Next time, I'll try turning
the bag around a few times during the first 12 hours of fermentation.
Any other suggestions I could try?

Also, I believe that I got the type of tempeh starter that works with
soybeans only. I'm wondering if it would still work if I added some
sunflower seeds to it.

I've tried store-bought tempeh only once and it was a while ago, so I
don't remember what it tasted like. This batch I made has a
particularly strong flavor. Is this normal for soybean tempeh? I read
that tempeh, like tofu, hardly tastes anything and takes the flavours
of what you cook it with. So this isn't always true?
Thanks for your input,

Viviane