— Laurie Wallace

So, um, yes, uh, the probiotics and Tempe, um, they are there and that's kind of how Tempe, um, you know, comes to be what Tempe is. But when you do cook the, the Tempe, the probiotic part kind of gets killed off a little bit. Now, most people would say to actually, um, you do want to cook Tempe before using it. Um, you can do like a, you know, ceviche style cook where you cook in like an acid as well at the same time, and you'll still keep a little bit of that probiotic, but you're basically turning it into a probiotic, which is a cooked probiotic. So you're not gonna get the same thing for Tempe typically as a probiotic if you were taking it in other forms. So, um, I typically don't look at Tempe as being able to eat a probiotic in the same way that I would at a lot of other foods just because you typically would cook it beforehand. In fact, I boil my Tempe before even cooking it or sauteing it in a different way to be able to get rid of some of that kind of funky flavor. The probiotic starts. Um, now that's my personal preference, but most people would tell you to cook the Tempe beforehand just to be able to make sure that you're killing off any bad bacteria that might've been growing at the same time too for safety precautions. Um, so if you're looking for a probiotic, I'd probably look for it in a different way than Tempe. Um, it is a great, uh, protein source and it's very unprocessed compared to a lot of other protein sources. Um, but, uh, as far as a probiotic, I wouldn't put Tempe at the top of my list for that. Um, you know, as far as cooking and storing it, um, you can just, you know, typically comes at a vacuum set, uh, sealed bag of some sort. That's how I would keep it until use. Um, a lot of times you'll see a little bit of brown tinge that's happening on the outside. That's typically normal, um, even, you know, if it's early, but if it's starting to get any kind of mold on the outside, that's when you wanna to watch out for it. But again, I typically boil my, my Tempe before using it or I'll boil it for about five minutes, take it out, dry it out, and then slice it, um, or crumble it and then cook it again in a saute pen.