Soy what?

Thursday, October 5

Today we learned all about soy, in particular about soy bean products such as tempeh, tofu and miso, which are high protein low fat plant based ingredients that have been used for centuries by a variety of countries and cultures and are healthy for us in its whole and natural form... inhibiting cancer growth, lowering cholesterol, helping the digestive system, good for heart problems, etc.

However, I was shocked to learn that the challenge and contraversy over soy is that companies have been changing and manipulating the form of soy from its whole state and in doing so are changing its structure and healthfulness from good to bad, i.e. soy protein isolate is used in endless commercial highly processed food products such as cheese and ice cream and is a highly refined form of soy protein. When oil is pressed from soybeans, the dregs or meal is bathed in chemical and alcohol solutions to eliminate all the carbohydrates. Also, soybean oil is often used in commercial food production, and it is highly refined, considered toxic in traditional medicine and is difficult to digest. The other problem is that the US is the largest producer of soybeans in the world and Monsanto one of the biggest companies producing it, and if the soy beans are not organic, we can assume that they may be Monsanto Roundup Ready Soybeans that are spliced with a herbicide that enables the plant to survive otherwise toxic doses of chemicals. It's been hard to get the straight goods on this subject until now .For more info on this we were referred to several books like the The Whole Soy Story or the Super Soy Book, which I will try to read to get more details and clarification on this important area.

The afternoon was spent on a demonstration by the chef on the preparation of various soy bean products and dishes, including making tofu from scratch.

What to try tempeh? Hint: never buy a package and eat this from the package as you probably won't llke it. It's a food product that needs to be marinated and prepared before eating or "blooms" as my instructors sometimes say. It's the same with tofu that you buy in packages though the home-made tofu we made is very different than the store-bought version and looks like a similar process that you would use for making soft cheeses.

How to buy tofu? Hint: don't buy it in bins as there tends to be a lot of bacteria in them. Also when you buy store bought you should rinse it and it is recommended that you blanch it quickly in hot water for a few minutes to remove any bacteria and it should usually be pressed to take out any excess water.

Friday, October 6

Today we were cooking and replicated most of the dishes the chef prepared for us on Thursday afternoon, and much more, with tempeh and tofu in a variety of dishes. The results were yummy and Dave was even able to try some of the leftovers, and can attest to the yummy factor, as he arrived in town Friday afternon. The class prepared collectively:

- tempeh marinated and pan fried with creamy fresh horseradish dressing

- tofu sour cream

- tofu cheese

- tofu teriyaki

- deep fried tempeh cubes

- tempeh scaloppine with red/white wine. Our team did the red wine one that turned out delicious.

- tofu burgers with homemade ketchup

- tempeh sausage

- bbq tofu

- tempeh vegetable kebobs grilled