Loughborough University Research Finds Tempe Linked to better Memory

People who eat high levels of some soy products, including tofu and other so-called ‘superfoods’, may be at an increased risk of memory loss.

Scientists from the Universities of Loughborough and Oxford, funded by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, worked with Indonesian colleagues to investigate the effects of high soy consumption in 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java.

The researchers’ findings, to be published in ‘Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders’ later this month, include evidence that a high consumption of tofu is associated with worsening memory, particularly among people aged 68 or older.

Lead researcher, Professor Eef Hogervorst of Loughborough University said: “Soy consumption is on the increase in the West and is often promoted as a ‘superfood’. Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, but it is not entirely clear what their effect on the aging brain is.

“They have similar effects to oestrogen which may offer neuroprotection to the middle-aged and young but not to over 65s for whom it could heighten risk of dementia and lower memory function.”

Intriguingly, the researchers also found that consuming tempe, a fermented soy product made from whole soy bean, is associated with better memory.Professor Hogervorst said the beneficial effect of tempe might be related to its high levels of folate, which is known to reduce dementia risk.

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Recipe - Vegetarian Curry with Tempe

Ingredients :
250g tempeh, cube cut
100g cabbage, cubed
100g carrot, cut into wedges
3–4 long beans, cut into 3cm lengths
1 potato, cut into wedges
1 brinjal, cut into slanting round slices
4 baby young corns, halved
1 tomato, cut into wedges
4 tbsp oil
800ml low-fat milk
400ml water

Spices (A) (combined and ground)
6 dried red chillies
5 fresh red chillies
2cm piece galangal
2cm piece ginger
1cm piece fresh turmeric
2 tbsp meat curry powder
1/2 tsp belacan stock granules
2 stalks lemon grass, sliced

Spices (B):
5cm cinnamon stick
1 star anise
4 cloves
3 cardamoms, split
2 stalks curry leaves Seasoning:
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chicken stock granules

How to cook :
Heat oil and fry spices (A) and (B) until fragrant. Add carrot and potatoes and cook for 2 minutes.

Add long beans and brinjals.

Pour in the low-fat milk and bring to just a boil.

Add cabbage, tomato and baby young corns.

Simmer for 1–2 minutes.

Add tempe and cook for an extra 2–3 minutes.

Add seasoning to taste.

Dish out and serve immediately.

Recipe - Dry Masala Tempe

Ingredients :
225g tempe, cut into bite-sized pieces
Oil for deep-frying
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
2 green chillies, sliced and seeded
1 red chilli, sliced and seeded
5 shallots, sliced
1 tbsp shredded ginger
2 stalks curry leaves
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tbsp meat curry powder
1 tsp mustard seeds (biji sawi)
2cm piece cinnamon stick
2–3 tbsp oil
100ml plain yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garam masala

How to cook :
Sprinkle turmeric powder and salt onto the tempe slices.

Deep-fry them in hot oil until golden brown and crispy.

Remove and drain on absorbent kitchen paper towels.

Heat oil in a wok or pan and fry shallots until fragrant.

Add in both red and green chillies and fry for 1 minute.

Add in the rest of the ingredients except the tempe.

Cook for 4–5 minutes over a gentle low heat until gravy turns fragrant.

Return the tempe pieces into the wok or pan and stir gently (without breaking the tempe) until well blended or coated with gravy.

Dish out and serve.

Recipe - Banana Pancake

Ingredients
4 banana (embun) mashed
4 cups rice flour
1 tbsp tapai pulut
Coconut water from 1 coconut
1 coconut, grated
Sugar and salt to taste

Methods
Use the coconut water to make santan with the grated coconut.

Mix well flour, mashed bananas, tapai and santan and leave to rise. Then mix in the sugar and salt.

Heat pan or kuali, and drop a teaspoon of margarine or butter into it.

Place a ladle of the mixture. Cover to allow batter to turn golden brown and flip pancake for the other side to cook.

Biotech and the science of tapai-making

DATUK Dr Jamaludin Jarjis is trying hard to make Malaysians understand what biotechnology is all about.

And he wants to use tapai, the country's age-old fermented rice recipe, as an example when he explains the concept to his constituents in Rompin. The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, who was at the Bio 2004 Convention in San Francisco last week, must have been so overwhelmed by the complexities of modern biotechnology that he is worried that it simply will not catch on where it matters — in the villages and jungle fringes where natural resources are in abundance.

"Let's demystify biotech," he kept on saying to people around him while in San Francisco.This is probably where tapai comes in. The classic Malay food is a by-product of biotechnology of sorts since its preparation involves the use of yeast to ferment glutinous rice — just as in the early days of biotech when yeast was also used to ferment beer and leaven bread in Egypt in 4,000BC.

It is biotech since it makes use of living cells and living particles to solve problems or make useful products. In the case of tapai-making, yeast is a living fungus and it is used to modify food, which is glutinous rice.Or how about tongkat ali? Because this wild root too can be used as an ingredient in pharmaceutical products to enhance vitality.

Jamaludin, or Datuk JJ as he is more popularly known, and everybody else in his ministry must be wishing that biotech is as simple as that. But it is too complicated to the non-discerning— even if Biotech for Dummies or Biotech Made Easy books are available in the market.And no matter what scientists say, biotechnology must be one of the most boring subjects to talk about to a mass audience. Laymen who were at the San Francisco convention should know.

Besides being highly technical, the subject is so dull and dreary, perhaps only fractionally more interesting than rocket science. Or watching grass grow.What do you expect when you are all the time fed with terms you didn't even know existed, like genome, abzymes, ribozymes and retinoblastomas? But somehow we all know the importance. Biotech has been hailed as the new engine of growth and some predict that it could even be bigger than the information and communication technology revolution that crept in in a big way several years ago and changed our lives.

That's why Jamaludin is taking it as a challenge to make this concept more appealing to the masses, especially since the country, being abundantly blessed with the potential, is directly in the path of the biotech gale."I want to be able to go back to my constituency in Rompin and talk about biotechnology in a language everyone understands because this science is all around us," he says.

An engineer by training, Jamaludin reckons he has to use simple yet far-reaching examples if he ever wants to break new ground in his biotech-for-all campaign. And food is close to the hearts of most peopole.The economic opportunities provided by biotech are said to be enormous — more so over the last 10 to 15 years with the progress made in information and communication technology that has opened the way for new discoveries and new drugs to treat killer diseases like cancer, AIDS and hypertension.

Jamaludin believes Malaysia can tap into its resources and available infrastructure to make vast inroads in this field and bring great economic gains to the country. Providing clinical trial facilities to research conducted by big firms is one. Another is making use of its natural resources, especially those found in the richness of the forests where all kinds of herbs and plants with medicinal value can be found.

Hempedu beruang (thottea), for instance is much sought after for its intrinsic medicinal value, especially for the treatment of skin diseases. A joint research project is being carried out at Berkeley University in California on this plant and this alone brings enormous benefit to Malaysia as it also exposes Malaysian scientists to research and development methods carried out in well-equipped and established surroundings. Of course, the bottomline is economics since several countries in the region, especially Singapore and India, are going at full stride to develop their biotech industries which are said to be bringing them revenue of up to US$10 billion (RM38 billion) a year.

The demystification of biotech is also necessary to make people less apprehensive of things like genetically-modified food or "frankenstein food" that put many people off.A university professor says the so-called environmental activists hold protests about biotech products simply because they don't understand what it is all about. "All they think is that food is now being produced in labs and these are unsafe."They don't realise that some of the raw vegetables from the farms that they eat contain a high residue of pesticides and that biotech has somehow come up with a process to overcome this problem relating to pesticide poisoning," he says.

He gives examples: Worldwide biotech crop acreage has risen 15 per cent to hit 167.2 million acres in 18 countries. Brazil and the Philippines grew biotech crops for the first time last year. Also, Indonesia allows consumption of imported biotech foods and China and Uganda accept biotech crop imports.The United Kingdom has also approved its first commercial biotech crop in eight years. The crop is a biotech herbicide-resistant corn used for cattle feed.The US Environmental Protection Agency has also approved the first transgenic rootworm-resistant corn, which may save farmers US$1 billion annually in crop losses and pesticide use.

Recipe - Crock Pot Lemon Chicken

What you need...

6 Chicken Thighs Without Skin -- or pieces, cut up
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Tsp Balsamic Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Catsup
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
6 Ounces Lemonade, Frozen Concentrate
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1/4 Cup water

How to.....

Dredge the chicken in flour mixed with salt. Shake off excess and brown in a hot skillet.

Remove chicken and put in the crockpot.

Mix the lemonade, brown sugar, vinegar (use regular vinegar if you prefer) and catsup and pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.

When ready to serve, remove the chicken to a warm platter and thicken the sauce with the cornstarch/water solution, and serve along with the chicken

New vegetarian food with several benefits

New vegetarian food with several benefits A new vegetarian food that boosts the uptake of iron and offers a good set of proteins. This could be the result of a doctoral dissertation by Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson at the Department of Food Science, Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden.

The food, called tempe, is moreover a whole-grain product with high folate content. It is generally accepted in medicine that whole-grains reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and it is also believed that it protects against age-related diabetes and certain forms of cancer. The B vitamin folate is the natural form of folic acid and, among other things, is necessary for normal fetal development.

"Tempe is designed for vegetarians, but also for people who want to eat less meat for environmental reasons, for example," says Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson. "We also had the environment in mind when we chose to base it on barley and oats, which are suitable to cultivate in Sweden and therefore do not require long transports."

Tempe is produced through fermentation with the aid of the micro fungus Rhizopus oligosporus. Tempe fermentation originates from Indonesia, but soybeans are used as the raw material there. In her work, Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson developed methods to preserve the high fiber content of the cereal grains and at the same time to enhance their content of easily accessible iron. Normally these two considerations work against each other.

The findings show that the uptake of iron doubled after a meal of barley tempe compared with unfermented barley. In other studies both oat and barley tempe moreover produced low blood sugar responses and insulin responses, which is typical of whole-grain products. The dissertation is titled "Nutritional properties of tempe fermented whole-grain barley and oats - Influence of processing conditions on the retention and availability of iron, starch and folates".

Source: Swedish Research Council

Recipes - Lemon Grilled Tempeh

Try this easy recipe to make your own marinade.

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
16 ounces tempeh
1 large onion, sliced into rings
4 whole wheat hamburger rolls

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, and blackpepper for a marinade; set aside. Cut the tempeh into pieces. Place the tempeh pieces in a steamer ormetal sieve over boiling water and steam for 15 minutes.

In a 2-quart casserole dish, combine the tempeh and the onions; pour the marinade over them. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Bake the tempeh, onions, and marinade, covered, for 30 minutes; orcook the tempeh and onions over a grill until heated through, basting with the marinade.

To serve, place the tempeh and onions on the hamburger rolls.Garnish with lettuce and sliced tomatoes.

Yield: 4 servings.
Per serving: 373 calories; 22 grams protein; 18 grams fat; 33 grams carbohydrate; 42% fat.

Nutritional Value of Tempeh

Since tempeh is made from whole soybeans, it is a fiber-rich food. It is also a generous source of many nutrients such as calcium, B-vitamins and iron. Four ounces (oz) of tempeh provides the following:

Calories 204

Protein (grams) 17

Fat (grams) 8

Carbohydrate (grams) 15

Calcium (milligrams) 80

Iron (milligrams) 2

Zinc (milligrams) 1/5

Source: Composition of Foods: Legume and Legume Products. United States Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Information Service, Agriculture Handbook, Number 8-16. Revised December 1986.

Lets Cook - Fried Tempeh

What Is Fermentation

Fermentation in food processing typically refers to the conversion of sugar to alcohol using yeast under anaerobic conditions. A more general definition of fermentation is the chemical conversion of carbohydrates into alcohols or acids. When fermentation stops prior to complete conversion of sugar to alcohol, a stuck fermentation is said to have occurred. The science of fermentation is known as zymology.

Fermentation usually implies that the action of the microorganisms is desirable, and the process is used to produce alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, and cider. Fermentation is also employed in preservation to create lactic acid in sour foods such as pickled cucumbers, kimchi and yogurt.

Fermentation is one way microorganisms can change a food. Certain bacteria, including lactic acid bacteria, are used to make yogurt, cheese, hot sauce, pickles and dishes such as kimchi.

A common effect of these fermentations is that the food product is less hospitable to other microorganisms, including pathogens and spoilage-causing microorganisms, thus extending the food's shelf-life.

Some cheese varieties also require mold microorganisms to ripen and develop their characteristic flavors.

Tempeh - Introduction

Tempeh/Tempe is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. It originated from Indonesia, invented by the Javanese, where it is most popular, although it is common in other parts of Southeast Asia as well, introduced by migrated Javanese. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein.

Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber and vitamins compared to tofu, as well as firmer texture and stronger flavor.

Tofu, however, is thought to be more versatile in dishes. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue. Even long before people found and realized the rich nutritional value of tempeh, tempeh was referred to as “Javanese meat.”

History of Tempe

Indonesia - Tempeh processing could be the oldest food technology in the history of Javanese people. Serat Centhini, a book published in the 16th century, indicates that tempeh had been produced and consumed by the time of its publication. Tempeh might have been introduced by the Chinese who are making a similar product, soybean koji, which are dehulled soybeans fermented with Aspergillus molds. The use of Rhizopus as tempeh starter in Indonesia may have been due to its better adaptation to the Indonesian climate. The earliest reference to tempeh by a European appeared in 1875 in a Javanese-Dutch dictionary. The rise of tempeh's popularity in Java and its spread to other parts of Indonesia and other countries of the world began in the 20th century. In the 1970s the banana leaf as container for the production of tempeh was replaced by the use of plastic bags.

Europe - In Europe, tempeh is known through the Dutch who once colonized Indonesia. In 1895 the Dutch microbiologist and chemist Prinsen Geerlings made the first attempt to identify the tempeh mold. The first tempeh companies in Europe were started in the Netherlands by immigrants from Indonesia. The first English written article appeared in 1931 the book "Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies ", written by J.J. Ochse. The earliest popular article about tempeh was a 7 page story published in France 1982 in Le Compas.

USA - In the USA, tempeh has been known only since 1946 with the publication of "Possible Sources of Proteins for Child Feeding in Underdeveloped Countries", in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the 1960s there was new interest in tempeh with research in tempeh at the Cornell University (New York) and at the USDA Northern Regional Research Center (Illinois). In 1961 Mary Otten was the first to begin making tempeh. Great deal of the credit for introducing tempeh to the American public goes to The Farm, a large spiritual and farming community in Summertown (Tennessee). The first commercial tempeh shop was started in 1975 by Mr. Gale Randall in Undadilla, Nebraska. An article by R. Rodale in "Prevention" in June 1977 brought him and his shop national prominence. In the 1980s when the tempeh industry expanded, the media showed new interest and a lot of articles appeared in scientific journals. During 1983 about 1 million commercial tempeh was produced.

Developing countries - In the 1940s Van Veen tried to introduce tempeh in Zimbabwe. But efforts to introduce tempeh as cheap source of protein in Zimbabwe and other developing countries (Africa and South-America) have mainly failed since the local populations have no experience with mold-fermented foods.

Actual trends - In Europe, the USA and other industrialized countries the interest for tempeh is increasing, by growing interest in health, nutrition and vegetarisme.