Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Soy and legumes from Peru

Lupin ferments (tarwi tempeh, lupin miso)

Lupin seeds are bitter with alkaloids, so they are soaked in many changes of water for days before they can be fermented. In recent studies the debittered seeds were grown into tempeh with Rhizopus, or mixed with rice koji and salt and ripened into miso. The sources read describe only these modern ferments, not a traditional fermented lupin.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes8 days – 14 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are from a 2026 laboratory tempeh study on tarwi. Lupin miso amounts are in the variant below.
Tarwi seeds, for debittering500 g in 5 L water[alarcon2026]
Commercial Rhizopus oligosporus starter1 g per 100 g of seed[alarcon2026]
VinegarAdded after cooking to bring the pH to 3.5–4.5[alarcon2026]
Starterdefined culture: Rhizopus oligosporus (tempeh) or Aspergillus oryzae koji (miso)

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 days – 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: The tarwi seeds soak for a day and are cooked twice in fresh water

Step 1 of 5
Soak and cook the seeds twice
Time
24–25 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Rhizopus oligosporus
Zygosaccharomyces rouxii
Debaryomyces hansenii
Candida versatilis
Rhizopus

Output: soaked, cooked seeds.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Lupin seeds are bitter with alkaloids, so they are soaked in many changes of water for days before they can be fermented. In recent studies the debittered seeds were grown into tempeh with Rhizopus, or mixed with rice koji and salt and ripened into miso. The sources read describe only these modern ferments, not a traditional fermented lupin. Made in 5 steps over 8 days – 14 days. The longest step, soak for days in changing water to leach out the alkaloids, takes 5–10 days (Alarcón R 2026). Rhizopus oligosporus, added as the tempeh starter and Lupin miso: Aspergillus oryzae koji plus a set mix of Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, Debaryomyces hansenii, Candida versatilis, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Tetragenococcus halophilus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–10 daysReported[alarcon2026][santos2025]Soak for days in changing water to leach out the alkaloids
Temperature30 °CReported[alarcon2026]Incubate until the seeds bind into a cake
AciditypH 3.5–4.5Reported[alarcon2026]Hull, cook and acidify

What makes this one different

Lupins must be debittered for days before fermenting. Tarwi tempeh showed greater protease activity than quinoa tempeh in the same study.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Lupin misoDebittered, autoclaved lupin paste mixed with rice koji and 3 % or 12 % salt, then ripened 18 months at 20 ± 1 °C (19–21 °C); of the legumes tested, lupin miso showed the most salt-dependent behaviour (Santos 2025).

Safety

Not a tested home method. Bitter lupin seeds hold quinolizidine alkaloids that are toxic to people, and severe poisoning can lead to cardiac arrest or respiratory paralysis (Peloso 2026). Both studies debittered the seeds by soaking them in changing water before fermenting. A laboratory debittering process cut the alkaloids by 94–99 % in another study, yet all eight samples stayed above the 200 mg/kg limit Australia and New Zealand set for lupin flour, and the EU has no harmonised maximum levels (Peloso 2026). Neither fermentation study reports alkaloid levels in the finished tempeh or miso, so nothing here shows that fermenting makes bitter lupin safe. Lupin can also cause severe allergic reactions, often in people allergic to peanut or soy.

Hazards the sources name: Quinolizidine alkaloids in lupin seed, up to 18,662.6 mg/kg in dried retail lupins (plant toxins, not microbes).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
  1. [alarcon2026] Alarcón R., Yépez Silva-Santisteban B.O., Villanueva-Quejia E., Raita J., Koistinen V., Hanhineva K., Repo-Carrasco-Valencia R. 2026, Tempeh-type fermentation kinetics of tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis) and red quinoa with Rhizopus oligosporus, Frontiers in Nutrition 13:1904999paper
  2. [santos2025] Santos R., Parente B., Mota M., Raymundo A., Prista C. 2025, Fermentation process evaluation of a sustainable and innovative miso made from alternative legumes, Foods 14(23):4131paper
  3. [peloso2026] Peloso M., Prizio I., Minkoumba Sonfack G., Molgora E.B., Caprai E. 2026, Quinolizidine alkaloid profiles in lupin-based products, monitoring of the Italian retail market and efficacy of the debittering process, Foods 15(13):2269, doi:10.3390/foods15132269 (abstract)paper