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Photo: Susan Brown, Rosemary Kotze, Dean

Long before Walmart started selling organic produce; before there were Loblaws Organics products; before wheat-free, gluten-free and low cholesterol products were even contemplated; before the 100-Mile Diet and the Local Food movement, Alan and Susan Brown left their friends at Plenty Canada near McDonalds Corners and moved to Toronto to start a food business.

The Browns had lived at The Farm in Tennessee, a vegetarian communal project that is still going strong today, and it was there that they learned about tempeh, a product made of fermented soybeans, which was originally invented in Indonesia at least 400 years ago.

Although tempeh is now a specialty product in North America, it was not known at all back in 1975 when it was being incorporated into the diet of people at The Farm. The Browns were a young couple when they learned how to make tempeh. They learned that it is a highly effective protein source, which was much in demand for a vegetarian community. They came to Canada and became involved with Plenty, which at the time was a small community on the model of the Farm.

The Browns, Alan in particular, had an entrepreneurial bent, and when they started developing a small-scale manufacturing process to make tempeh for sale, the idea of doing it at Plenty was the first plan, but in the end it turned out not to be a good fit. So the couple headed off to the big smoke - Kensington Market to be precise - and started up their business.

A few years later they were drawn back to eastern Ontario. “We spent one weekend looking at dozens of places, and then we found this property and snapped it up,” Alan recalled last week from the little factory behind their home on the Elphin Maberly Road, just south-west of Elphin.

So, over 25 years ago, Noble Bean, which is what they called their company, moved to Elphin, and the Browns have built their business, and their lives, ever since, in the process becoming a living example of how a small-scale local food business should be run, with hands-on owners who are completely committed to the product they make.

At first they made tempeh in a small, converted trailer, which is still part of the 1,500 square foot hybrid building where the tempeh is made today.

Noble Bean is a certified organic, kosher product, and so the process through which the tempeh is made is subject to the scrutiny not only of Canadian and Ontario health and safety inspectors, but also a rabbi from Ottawa and organic regulators as well.

Both Susan and Alan work in the shop, and Susan supervises most of the production and the work of two other workers, currently Rosie Kotze from Elphin and Dean from Playfairville.

In what is a smooth-running operation, dried soybeans are transformed into 350 pounds of tempeh each day, five times a week. A year’s supply of organic soybeans sits in a tractor trailer at the far end of the property, waiting to be brought into a room where they are poured into a wood and mesh box. A fan and a dehumidifier are employed to further dry out the beans until the moisture content is down to 10%. At that point the beans are hulled, and the casings are sucked out by vacuum tube (the casings help to feed the pigs at a neighbouring farm in exchange for eggs).

The beans are put in porous sacks and boiled. They then go into a machine that resembles a commercial drier for the surface moisture to be spun out of them.

Finally the cooked beans are ready to be turned into tempeh.

At this point the beans are full of protein, but the human body can't get at all that protein. Something needs to be done to alter their chemical state.

Hundreds of years ago in Indonesia, they would be left exposed to the air, and naturally occurring bacteria would form a white mold over them in a matter of days.

Modern tempeh making, just like modern production of beer and wine, requires that for both health and taste reasons, the fermentation must be a controlled reaction. The culture that is used at Noble Bean is Rhizopus oligoporus, which is imported from The Farm in Tennessee or from other sources. The culture is mixed into the cooked soybeans, which are put into plastic that has been punctured with dozens of tiny holes. Then bags are flattened and placed on metal trays that you might see in a hospital cafeteria. The trays are placed in incubators, which maintain a temperature of over 30 degrees centigrade for 24 hours to incubate the culture.

After 24 hours, the beige soybeans have a white coating (technically it is fibrous mycelium) that is infused throughout the Tempeh cakes. Not only does the mycelium hold the cakes together, it has altered the chemistry of the soybeans, breaking them down so they can be readily digested.

“It also reverses the anti-nutrients in soy,” said Susan Brown, particularly the trypsin inhibitor that prevents digestion of protein, and phytic acid, which impedes the absorption of certain minerals including zinc, calcium and iron.”

Once the incubation is complete, the Noble Tempeh is flash frozen, and sold in stores as a frozen product.

Along with regular Soy Tempeh, Noble Bean makes Sea Veggie Tempeh, Quinoa Tempeh, and Three Grain Tempeh by adding ingredients before the tempeh is incubated. In addition, Noble Bean also sells tempeh burgers, in which the tempeh cakes are sliced and marinated before being frozen.

Over the years, the Browns have continually fine tuned their manufacturing process, all the while building up a market for tempeh in health food stores in Perth, Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal in addition to their original sales base in Toronto and through the Ontario Natural Food Co-op

But in the past few years, the market for tempeh has been exploding. The increased interest in healthy protein and gluten-free products has only made the market even stronger, and even though they invested $40,000 a few years ago in upgrades to their production facility to be able to produce as much as they do now, the market is now demanding more and more.

“Our sales were steady through the ’90s, but they are now going up every year,” said Alan Brown, “and in 2011 they are up about 13%.”

The Browns are not planning to expand their business again, however. After 30 years they are planning to retire and have put Noble Bean up for sale, even though it is more profitable today than it has ever been. It will be the new owner who will have the opportunity to build up the production to meet what looks like a limitless market.

The Browns don’t only produce tempeh; they have also become adept at cooking with it.

Like tofu, its more famous cousin, tempeh is a food that has a more neutral flavour than other sources of protein. What that means as far as cuisine is concerned, is that it provides the texture and allows other ingredients and spices the opportunity to shine. Ginger and garlic, mushrooms and almonds are all very well suited to cooking with tempeh.

In Indonesia, dishes such as Tempeh Sambal Goreng are part of the national cuisine, and a number of websites and cookbooks have sprung up with recipes that use tempeh in other Asian dishes such as Tempeh with Shiitake mushrooms and garlic sauce, and Sweet and Sour Tempeh. It is also used as a meat substitute in Italian and Mexican dishes.

Tempeh burgers are available at the Elf Inn Express locally, and Noble Bean Tempeh is sold at Local Family Farms in Verona, Tara Natural Foods in Kingston and Foodsmiths in Perth.

For further information, check out Noblebean.ca

 

Published in General Interest
Thursday, 16 June 2011 07:54

Sharbot Lake farmers market draws a crowd

Photo: Marlene Bertrim, Natalie and Christina Wotherspoon and Carol Pepper purchase goods from Pat Furlong and her daughter Robin Brownlee

A steady stream of shoppers made the first ever Sharbot Lake farmers’ market, which was held at Oso beach on June 11, a resounding success. Shoppers were parked in their cars at the beach well before the market opened at 9 a.m., demonstrating that the event is definitely creating a local buzz.

Seven local vendors participated and sold a wide variety of goods, including pure wild flower honey maple syrup and other maple products, fresh herbs, edible flowers, fresh rhubarb, plants, organic meats all natural skin care products, beeswax candles, baked goods, and embroidered clothing.

Vendors included Jen Farnum and Mark Saunders of Crooked Hills Farm; Jason Conboy of Conboy and Sons Maple Syrup; Sasha and Lucie Gilchrist of Honey Bee Happy products; Dean and Valerie Wedden of Upper Frontenac Graphics; and local growers Mary de Bassecourt and Glenys Bender.

Participating vendor, Pat Furlong of Elphin Gold Organic Farm, who organized the market and is the new chair of the Hands on Harvest group, was thrilled with the turn out. “I was totally flabbergasted by the local support and for a first-time market it totally outdid my expectations.”

Many vendors sold out of their goods by noon and all were pleased to have a new local retail outlet for their goods. The number of participating vendors is increasing and Pat expects to have three more vendors joining the group at next week’s market. For anyone who missed it, the market takes place at the Lions pavilion at the north end of Oso beach from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
Thursday, 08 August 2013 19:14

Elphinfest 2013

Local and out of town rockers made the one-day Elphinfest their destination and on August 3 fans gathered at Rick Killingbeck's Elphin homestead, where for 13 years he has been offering up an eclectic line up of players in the alternative/rock vein. Six Ottawa bands played, including Claudia, Fiona Noakes, Trip and Dance, Rick's own classic rock band Sonic Roots and more. The band Still Winter Hills traveled all the way from Ottawa following an earlier gig just to play one hour in Elphin at Rick's place.

I had a chance to see Dan Gignac, front man of alternative/rock band Normann, perform solo on account of a last-minute emergency that kept his other band members away. Gignac knew in advance that he would be performing solo and rose to the challenge. He came prepared playing, from his former repertoire as solo player Big Nac and played lead guitar and also sang a few Normann tunes like Light Gets in the Way and Stay which were backed by a number of prerecorded tracks that he prepared and brought along. He described his sound as a cross between Alice and Chains and Gobsmackers. He played two hand-made Lado guitars and a Paul Reed Smith guitar and said following his performance “The one thing about being a multi- instrumental musician is that I can play everything but just not all at once.”

Rick Killingbeck said he came up with the idea for the festival knowing that it is very difficult to get a chance to see the bands that he personally knows and likes during the busy summer season when most of their schedules conflict. “The idea was to get all of the bands that I like together in one place at the same time so we can hang out, play and listen to each other." Killingbeck is able to put on the show thanks to the help of his sound man Raul Crine of Kingston, who has been working with him for the last 13 years to put on the show. Killingbeck's band plays regularly every six weeks at the Shark and Bull in Perth and regularly in Ottawa.

Coming up on Sat. Aug. 10, the Elphinfest site will be filled with music again for a Country Music Festival hosted by the Snow Road Snowmobile Club. See the Mississippi column for details.

Published in General Interest
Thursday, 18 July 2013 17:38

Elphin Gearing Up For A Two-Fest August

Having already successfully hosted the 5th Annual Mystic Musical Festival on the Canada Day weekend, Elphin, the funkiest little musical  village in the area, is getting ready for the 13th Annual ElphinFest and the 1st Annual  Snow Road Snowmobile Country Music Festival fundraiser.

August 3 is the date for ElphinFest, with 8 bands playing from noon till 11pm. They are 'Still Winter Hills', Claudia, Krisi Allen Band, Fiona Noakes, Ben And Me, and Stormin' Norman and the Stray Dogs. Two of the area’s most popular bands headline the event. Classic Rockers 'Sonic Roots' and   Normann. All of these bands have CDs out and more information on them can be found on the 'ElphinFest' Facebook site. Admission is only $10 for the entire 11hours and there is plenty of great food available from the popular on-site eatery: The Elf Inn Express.

The following week, August 10, at the same location, is the country music Festival and Fundraiser for the hardworking members of the Snow Road Snowmobile Club. There are seven great acts scheduled for the event. Kicking it off is up and comer Alyshia Richard from the Arden area. This 16-year-old sensation is working on her first CD and is making a name for herself. From Kingston is 13-year-old ‘Colin Watts’, who will be playing with his band and impressing everyone with his maturity and talent. Other performers include the Clyne Brothers, the Country Four, Tom King, and another local group, South of 7. Headlining the event is veteran country recording artist, George Chenier There may even be some 'surprize' guests. Admission is $20 at the gate and to keep the size comfortable a limited number of tickets are being sold. Again, scrumptious food is available from both the Elf Inn Express and the snowmobile club’s onsite barbeques.

No matter what your musical tastes, there is a flavour that fits at the ElphinFest site. More information is available on the Snow Road Snowmobile Club Fundraisers’ Facebook page.

Published in General Interest
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With the participation of the Government of Canada