Fermentation Support Forum

Hey everyone! Long time since I've been on the forum. My question:
I get my tempeh starter from Cultures for Health and they reccommend steaming extra tempeh for 20 minutes and soaking in salt water overnight and the freezing. I usually make several pounds at once and freeze the extra. SO...doesn't steaming it kill all of the live and raw rhizopus cultures that one is trying to preserve within the fresh tempeh? Isn't this the healthiest component of the tempeh? or will one recieve health benefits through the pre digestion and enzymes by the culture. In other words, what probiotic nutrition remains after steaming/cooking. Very curious if anyone knows. Thank you

I recently heard an interview on BBC with the top scientist doing work in the field of gut biota. He made the distinction between pro-biotic and pre-biotic. Probiotic bugs are alive and are killed during pasteurization. If you eat them uncooked they become part of your (about 3 lbs) gut biota and help you stay healthy.
Tempeh is prebiotic, it provides a food to be digested by the various bugs in your gut and because it has been fermented is easier for them to break down, therefore beneficial. Whether you eat the tempeh right out of the incubator or after pasteurization, the stomach acids and enzymes will break it down. If it stayed alive in your gut you would be in trouble and it would probably come out of every orifice in about three days.

grumps-
Thankyou for the distinction concerning the prebiotic and probiotic qualities. I tried a sample of tempeh right out of the incubator once and it was an interesting experiment that I will not repeat.