Local chef, Maddalena Tummenaro, faced a life-threatening bacterial infection that had to be treated with a long-course of intravenous antibiotics that she says literally destroyed the good bacteria in her digestive system, so she started making tempeh to restore her health. Now she sells her creations under the label of Luv Tempeh.
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A local chef turned to
tempeh to resource her health
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after facing a serious
bacterial infection.
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Now she makes the living
food in small batches
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for sale in Durango.
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You're watching the Local News Network
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brought to you by 2180
Lighting and Design Studio
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and FASTSIGNS of Durango,
I'm Wendy Graham Settle.
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Southwest Colorado chef
Maddalena Tummenaro
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accidental stabbed herself
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with a pitchfork several years ago,
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and soon found her system overwhelmed
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with a serious bacterial infection.
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After months on intravenous
antibiotics, she healed.
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But the microbiomes in
her system were destroyed
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leaving her vulnerable to more infections.
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Scientist estimate that
the human body is a home
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to about 100 trillion
microbiomes, like fungi,
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bacteria, or viruses
that live in our skin,
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in our respiratory system,
mouth, digestive tract
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and other areas of our body.
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They protect us against disease
and help us breakdown food
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to release energy.
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As a chef of 25 years, the
last 15 of which were focused
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on organic and healthy foods,
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she searched for a way
to resort the biomes
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in her system naturally.
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That's when her journey to
make fresh tempeh began.
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Tempeh is a protein-rich
food made from a combination
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of beans, grains, and
seeds that's fermented
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with a type of fungus to produce mycelium,
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a white fiber-like substance
that surrounds the bean
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and forms a solid cake of living food.
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Mycelium is the plant part of a fungus
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that allows the fungus to
breakdown plants into nutrients.
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It's found naturally in soils
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and is sometimes used
as an organic additive
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to enrich soils for cultivation.
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And so this fungus has a life.
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It is alive, it's really
hard to live fungus
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anywhere in the US because
it has a shelf-life
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and so we're used to eating
things that are packaged
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and processed, pasteurized,
so that they are shelf-stable.
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This is not, and this
fungus isn't quite done it
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it's still growing here.
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And the inspiration for the tempeh,
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tempeh has been made
for thousands of years,
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but the inspiration for the
tempeh for me to get into it,
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was seeing the mycelium in the soil
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where we grow our food to try
to create pockets of life.
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So in the beginning of life, or the end,
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depending on how you want to look at it,
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the mycelium comes in and
makes the nutrition available
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in the soil for the plants.
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Well, the mycelium's
doing the same thing here.
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So the mycelium comes in
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and breaks down the oligosaccharides
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in the beans, greens, and legumes
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and makes the nutrition more
available for us to intake.
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And that's really important.
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It also develops an amazing flavor,
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so you get a lot of umami flavors
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and these you know, complex cheesy, nutty,
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depending on the substrate.
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So for a chef this is a really unique food
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and then it ages to create even
more intense umami flavors.
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Tummenaro begun making
commercial batches of tempeh
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about a year ago under
the label of Luv Tempeh.
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In winter she makes
about 100 pounds per week
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and in summer up to 300 pounds per week
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in her home-based commercial kitchen.
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Tummenaro makes every batch by hand
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from all organic products.
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She hand wraps the bricks
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in environmentally sustainable paper
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and deliveries her products
to retail stores herself.
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Although tempeh traditionally
is made with soya beans
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Tummenaro makes six varieties.
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From a black bean, millet,
and sunflower seed tempeh,
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to what she calls a breakfast tempeh,
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made with chickpeas, cocoa
nibs, and pumpkin seeds.
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The latter doesn't taste
like chocolate at all.
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She calls it a breakfast tempeh
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because the cocoa has caffeine in it.
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Fresh tempeh is so
versatile you can really
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use it any way that you would cook meat.
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But it's so good that
honestly the best thing to do
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with it, is just a little bit salt,
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fried in maybe just a touch of oil
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on a nice thick cast iron skillet.
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It's so special, I
mean, the subtle flavors
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of fresh tempeh, you don't get
that with pasteurized tempeh.
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This is real live fungus,
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so it's almost very similar
to cooking a mushroom.
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But it's firmer, so
unlike tofu or mushrooms,
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it's easier to throw on a grill.
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This is not even done
yet, but it's quite firm
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and you can also use it like bread,
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so slicing it longways and toasting it
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will work really nicely, it holds up.
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For people who don't do
gluten or certain grains
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that's a really good option just cause
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it's still a whole food.
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You can purchase Luv
Tempeh at Natures Oasis,
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Durango Natural Foods, Zuma
Natural Foods in Mancos,
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and the Durango Farmers Market.
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To learn more about Luv Tempeh
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visit her website at luvtempeh.com.
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Thanks for watching this edition
of the Local News Network,
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I'm Wendy Graham Settle.
