Noble Bean operates out of a 1400 sq. ft. production facility on 10 acres of land near Elphin, ON in the Ottawa Valley. We are 34 km. from the town of Perth and 100 km. from Ottawa. Originally based in Toronto, we had spent many years before that living in the country and felt that after we established our market in the city, it would be an excellent cottage industry that we could carry on from afar.
Tempeh had been a part of our diet for years and once we learned how to make this amazing food, we started commercial production in 1980. Starting small with a $500 loan, we made our first purchase of cooking equipment from a 60-year-old gentleman in Port Perry, Ontario. He had been stocking a few Toronto natural food stores with tempeh for a year. We paid $200 for a large custom-made cooker, colander, racks and utensils that we still use today.
It was slow going at first, acquainting the industry and the public with a new protein source. We made about 48 pounds per day, 4 days a week. While we were based in Kensington Market, we serviced the Toronto stores ourselves. Our production amount steadily increased as people became familiar with this new food. When we did make the jump out of the city back to the land, we started producing 120 pounds per day. It was at this time that we took on our first distributor, Eco Farms. We had a good relationship with them and our product got out much further than we had been capable of on our own.
Through all of these times we felt fortunate to be able to make a living at home. Children changed our lives immensely. Our two boys were raised with this business and home-schooled for years as they were growing. Our oldest, Casey, 22 yrs. old, worked for 3 years/4 shifts per week at Noble Bean. He now works in a natural food bakery in Ottawa. Marty, our youngest, 18 yrs. old is now working a few shifts per week.
Recent findings about the many health benefits of tempeh have led more people to discover its satisfying taste and texture.
We make 300 to 400 pounds per day, 4 days per week. We offer 6 different tempeh products all made from certified organically grown ingredients. Our regular soy tempeh which comes in 2 sizes has been our steady best seller. We also offer 3 Grain (soy with barley, millet and brown rice), Quinoa/Sesame, Sea Veggie (soy with arame and dulse) and ready to eat Tempeh Burgers.
We have 4 distributors: Koyo Foods in Montreal, Quebec, Ontario Natural Food Co-op in Toronto, La Soyarie in Gatineau, Quebec and Coop d'Alentour in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
We are pioneers in the soyfoods industry in Canada. We learned this craft from friends that researched and introduced tempeh to North America in the early 1970's. They were also responsible for the first cookbook in North America to offer tempeh recipes in 1975 (The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook).
After using certified organic ingredients for over 2 decades we are now an OCPP certified facility (Organic Crop Producers and Processors). We use naturally pure water (not treated city water), we do not vacuum-package or pasteurize our tempeh (taste and texture changes occur with vac-packaging plus vitamin and mineral loss happens in the pasteurization process). Noble Bean tempeh is a genuine slow food.
Noble Bean is the largest and oldest commercial tempeh producer in Canada. Many friends have worked for us over the years and we’ve been fortunate to be able to provide a small economic base for those who live near us. We take pride in the fact that we are still a small, hands-on, low-tech family business and can still walk to work.
