Enjoyable with Fermentation – Type Weekly

“I was bored with my old problems, so it’s good to have new ones,” says Keith Gurgick, co-founder together with his spouse, Rachel Gurgick, of Chaotic Good Tempeh.

Gurgick’s previous issues included growing tempeh merchandise that would attraction to a public who — although more and more enthusiastic about fermented meals and plant-based protein — was usually unfamiliar with tempeh, a conventional Indonesian preparation of fermented soybeans.

Several years of experimentation and promoting at farmers markets resulted in a line of seasoned tempeh that may be simply substituted for meat. The firm’s latest downside: ramping up manufacturing for distribution to grocery shops throughout Virginia.

Good issues to have, Gurgick clarifies.

Gurgick first encountered tempeh within the type of a tempeh reuben at Harrison Street Café whereas he was a pupil at Virginia Commonwealth University. “That’s still my favorite application of tempeh, which is why I made the tempeh pastrami,” he says, referring to one in all Chaotic Good’s frozen choices.

After school, Gurgick labored as a line cook dinner in New Orleans and, ultimately, as a chef in Michigan. While there, he started experimenting with fermentation. After buying a second-hand dehydrator, he determined to attempt making his personal tempeh. He discovered that contemporary tempeh was rather more attention-grabbing than what he had beforehand encountered from the grocery retailer aisle. Its style and well being advantages satisfied him that extra folks wanted to attempt it, too.

For those that don’t fall beneath the class of “tempeh maniac,” tempeh is just a mixture of beans and fungus. The mixture is believed to have originated by likelihood a number of centuries in the past in Indonesia, when hibiscus leaves bearing fungal spores had been used to wrap soybeans for transport. The fungus (Rhizopus oligosporus or Rhizopus oryzae) rapidly colonizes the beans, knitting them collectively in a mycelial mass and partially digesting them, which makes their vitamins extra accessible for human digestion.

Chaotic Good Tempeh makes use of chickpeas, fairly than soybeans, with the normal fungus. After fermentation, Gurgick brines, seasons, smokes and/or roasts the tempeh (seasoning the tempeh whereas contemporary aids in taste absorption).

Gurgick notes that fermentation has substantial well being advantages, together with breaking down oligosaccharides, the compound in beans that causes fuel. He provides that fermentation “also breaks down some of the inflammatory compounds, adds a lot of fiber and reduces the glycemic index so it spikes blood sugar a little less.”

Tempeh can be one of many solely plant-based proteins that has a whole amino acid profile, Gurgick says.

When Gurgick began promoting uncooked tempeh at farmers markets, he rapidly discovered that almost all central Virginia market goers didn’t know what he was making an attempt to promote them. He started cooking samples, which generated enthusiasm, however created a brand new problem when prospects who loved his recipes discovered that their very own cooking couldn’t compete.

Gurgick determined to pivot from uncooked tempeh to cooked and seasoned merchandise, taking two years to develop recipes. “I really wanted to develop a product line that was accessible to people, with familiar flavors, but also a little bit outside the box,” he says.

While Chaotic Good Tempeh’s merchandise are impressed by meat — and may change it in lots of dishes — the first objective has by no means been to make a mere imitation. More necessary is the corporate’s dedication to whole-food elements. “No binders, gums, isolates or fillers,” Gurgick says. “I was just trying to use really time-honored cooking techniques to enhance the flavor of the tempeh and make it more approachable for people.”

This tempeh introduced the Gurgicks to the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo in 2022, the place they received Best New Product.

There had been challenges behind the scenes, nevertheless. Just a few months earlier than the award ceremony, Keith and Rachel’s son was born with Alagille syndrome, a uncommon genetic dysfunction that impacts the liver, inflicting extreme itching, jaundice and much more sleepless nights than ordinary for a new child. He acquired a life-saving liver transplant final yr. “We’re profoundly grateful to his donor, the medical team and our friends and community for all their support,” says Gurgick.

Now, Chaotic Good Tempeh is starting distribution to grocery shops with a line of seven merchandise. Tempeh burgers, bacon, nuggets, and extra will be discovered at Union Market, Ellwood Thompson’s, Good Foods Grocery, Outpost and the Whole Foods on Meadow, in addition to markets in Charlottesville, Scottsville and Fredericksburg.

They plan to position their product in shops within the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) space too, with a manufacturing facility buildout deliberate for 2027. Good Temeph can be persevering with to vend at year-round farmers markets RVA Big Market and South of the James.

As the corporate grows, Gurgick continues to experiment. He is worked up to deliver recipes beneath growth to Richmond farmers markets, each his personal and people devised by the corporate’s first worker. “Half the fun is playing around with stuff,” he says. “Now that I have my first employee, it frees up a little bit more time to share some new specials with the local market that you can’t get anywhere else.”

BOLO: Chaotic Good is gearing as much as roll out a brand new product, tempeh chips, together with a brand new workshop collection this January. Find all the main points here.