All about TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)

[St George]

I have found goodnessdirect.co.uk, but their postage charges are more than I am willing to pay. Are there any other online shops that sell it cheaper, or high street shops that sell it?

It is VEGAN chunks that I want. Maybe they are all vegan. I dont know as I am new to this, lol!

Thanks in advance

[gertvegan]

St George, have you checked out the health food shops in your area? You'll be surprised at all the goodies you will find.

[Gorilla]

Sainsbury's do some fairly good TVP chunks and they only cost about 60p for a packet which serves about 4 i think. i used to use it sometimes but i've gone off it now.

[Tofu Monster]

I buy mine from Holland and Barrett. They have plain or savoury TVP available in chunks or mince, depending on what consistency you want. I use them in chilli and they're fine. They're reasonably priced, and yes, they are vegan!

[drummer]

TVP is really great cooked in the crock-pot (slow cooker) with vegetables as a casserole.

[tails4wagging]

St George, try Holland & Barratt or your local health shops. I think Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco sell the tvp chunks?. They are in a packet/box on the shelves.

[eve]

I don't normally buy TVP, but I'm going to a little get-together and we are all bringing something savoury. I thought this might be a good introduction for them to try something resembling mince. But when I looked in the supermarket, that Sanitarium company have just about halved the size of the packet, doubled the price to $5 for 200gr, and when I checked the ingredients listing, they now put milk in it! Grrrrrr. Oh well, I'll make something nicer.

[snaffler]

I buy mine from Frome Wholefoods they get the bulk stock from Essential in Brizzle sorry Bristol

[drummer]

Eve, some health shops sell TVP in bulk for about AUS$3.99/kg. Very cheap. They sell it without the milk-derived caramel colour. I don't know where in Queensland you could get it, but its worth asking around. Select Foods also make TVP, and can be bought from Health Shops or Coles or Safeway. Select Foods also make TVP chunks and TVP slices. The TVP slices are like steak chunks, only better.

[acousticCORE123]

Hello everyone, I am a new vegan transformed by a great meal I had at a local place, but I feel like a small fish in the atlantic at my local health food store. So, i had some questions about soy products: Is there a difference between textured soy and Seitan? I noticed TVP can come in chunks or strips, but does it also come in flakes so you can mold yourself like you can Seitan? (I never had seitan, so I dont really know if the texture is simillar to TVP...)

[tasha]

Honestly, I'm not as well educated on the "real" difference between some of these products, however, I can tell you that tvp tends to give *gas*; seitan doesn't seem to have the same effect.

Tvp is much easier to work with though, as it stays good for a long time and is easy to add to any dish when you need it. You can make seitan and then ground it up, it is excellent to use in pot pies or you can slice it and make yummy sandwiches or add to stirfries.

I'm sure someone more knowledgable will come on here and give you more valuable information.

I just know what tastes better and what causes less gas!!!!!!!

[acousticCORE123]

tasha ....hahahaha....i know what you mean....i always thought it was the high fiber content, but i guess not! Besides, seitan is fiberous as well. thank you very much for your input

[Tigerlily]

How do you use TVP? JUst add it as is to dishes?

[tasha]

You have to add boiling water and some people add a little ketchup too.

It really isn't all that bad if you need some "ground beef" for a pot pie or a rice dish and you just happen to have some in the cupboard. It keeps for quite awhile dry.

[Tigerlily]

Hmmm. Is it nutritious?

[feline01]

TVP (texturized vegetable protein) is a heavily-processed soy-based product which I avoid. Seitan is made from wheat flour and is in the same family of gluten which is the actual product obtained from the flour. The easiest way to make seitan is using vital wheat gluten, most health food shops sell it. It can be found already prepared in the refrigerated section of some health food stores.

[acousticCORE123]

Thanks for the input everyone......

Is either one (TVP or Seitan) more nutritious than the other? (mainly in terms of fat and carbs.....i imagine the seitan would be carby-er)

[Kiva Dancer]

I'm not sure about the carb level of either one but I will say the body needs carbs in order to get on properly. It needs fat, too.

I found something that says that vital wheat gluten (the thing that seitan is made from) has .5g fat and 6g of carbs per 1/4 cup. Don't know if that's good or not, though.

TVP I also avoid because it's made from soy protein isolate. Soy protein isolate, imo is soy in its extremely refined state and there's some speculations that spi contributes to increased risk for certain cancers.

Personally, I would go with seitan before I gave TVP a second glance.

[Tigerlily]

Thanks. It's just that there's no seitan here. But there's TVP.

I never liked the feel of meat anyway, so it's probably pretty meat-y?

[acousticCORE123]

Yeah, Tigerlily, meat substitutes are very meaty. If i remember correctly, the "chicken" I ate was very thick and stringy, thats what blew me away about it. So, if you dont like meat, then you might not like meat substitutes....but thats just my experience (my 1 time experience) so others might be able to disagree with me

[Kiva Dancer]

Thanks. It's just that there's no seitan here. But there's TVP.

I never liked the feel of meat anyway, so it's probably pretty meat-y?

If you can find vital wheat gluten, you can make your own seitan. There are many recipes around that tell how to do that.

I would say yes, TVP is very meat-y. Almost disgustingly meat-y if you don't really like that texture. The first time I had TVP (long before I knew what it was made from), I got ill because the mouthfeel was too much like ground meat for me to stand.

[acousticCORE123]

TVP I also avoid because it's made from soy protein isolate. Soy protein isolate, imo is soy in its extremely refined state and there's some speculations that spi contributes to increased risk for certain cancers.

I just read this http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm and it basically confirmed what you were talking about in terms of the increased risk for cancer as well as other things. I dont know though, I think I gotta read up on this a bit more.....maybe check some health journals.

[Kiva Dancer]

That's very wise, but be warned: some so-called "experts on soy" are really nothing more than scare-mongers who toss about some clever sounding words mixed in with unfounded information and partial truths which serve to confuse more than clarify.

For some good, valid sources, I recommend this site and this one. Both sites have very good, accurate articles that answer questions about the safety of soy. There's also a thread here that discusses the safety of soya (soy) which is very good reading, as well.

To clarify also: it's the soy protein isolate (SPI) that's showing to be a problem, not soy itself (think of it as being the difference between a vegetable, fresh from the produce stand vs. a vegetable that's been breaded and fried ). Tofu, tempeh and miso, afaik, don't contain SPI and IMO, aren't potentially problematic like SPI is.

[veganpixie]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum. Tell me, and I'll move it to a better one. Thanks. Hi, I'm posting and asking this while fresh in my mind b4 I forget. I have TVP tiny soy pieces that I'm ready to cook in water to make mock chicken for my dear Frisky kitty. I have several good seasonings and good ingredients like nutritional yeast and brewer's yeast and Bragg Liquid Aminos to season it well and make the mixture good, yummi, moist, and mock chickeny-like.

My dilemma is that I don't know the right or best measurements and best blends, you know which ingredients blend best with what. I'm searching for a good recipe in yahoo and goodle, but I still haven't found a good recipe yet. I need to feed this to my dear sweet Frisky so he'll get stronger and gain some weight, as he is ill. But I can't elaborate on his illness condition right this moment. I shall again tnite when I have more time. I don't have a natural soy sauce right now so I can only use my Bragg. Can someone please help me here?

This is urgent and I need to "master" for lack of better words a good recipe so the chicken smell and flavor will be so pungent and strong he'll devour it and eat it. Okay, thank you for your help and for listening.

[Pob]

I feed my cats meat, however, I did try one of them with some of my dinner - he wanted to try it. I was aiming more for a beefy taste.

I had used vegetable bouillon (the pale kind) and natex yeast extract in the gravy. There was a lot of yeast extract and not much bouillon. It wasn't too salty. The cat liked it.

[harpy]

Mine didn't seem very keen on TVP but they do like the chicken-style slices you can buy here (mostly made of wheat gluten/seitan I think).

However, if your cat's ill I'm not sure that you are likely to succeed in introducing an unfamiliar food. You are more likely to be able to coax him to eat with something he already likes. You might want to consider postponing the introduction of a new food until he's feeling better.

[indigorainhemp]

Hello - I am new to this board so I apologize if this question has already been brought up.

I am veggie TRYING to go vegan slowly.

I have had TVP many times but I have never cooked it myself.

I tried this weekend to add it to pasta but it really didn't taste too good and it was very mushy,,,not chewy like "ground beef" texture.

I do not think I am preparing it correctly.

Can anybody help? I first poured hot water over the TVP and added a pinch of ketchup and tamari sauce ,,,let it rehydrate. Then I sauté the TVP for about 10 min and added it to the sauce. Then slow cooked the sauce with veggies and such ....

I was not sure if I even needed to re-hydrate since it was going into the sauce anyway ??

Can someone let me know what the "process" is for TVP and when to re-hydrate and when to NOT rehydrate etc...??

Any recipes would be great as well ~ thanks so much!

[DianeVegan]

Welcome to the forum!

Here is a very basic rehydration recipe for TVP:

1 cup TVP
3/4 cup boiling water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce (or shoyu, tamari, Bragg's)

Boil the water then add to the TVP and soy sauce.

I don't really like TVP but will sometimes add it to Chili or Mock Shepard's Pie. It will never have the texture of ground beef no matter how you prepare it. You may find some recipes online at vegweb.com or other sites but most vegans don't use it much. I have a lot of recent vegan cookbooks and I don't think even one has TVP as an ingredient. I think it is a misconception by a lot of non-vegans that vegans eat TVP.

[LittleNellColumbia]

Hi guys, i was wondering how much TVP expands? and seitin? Because using 1/4 dry doesnt seem like much and i dont think it would be very filling! Thanks

[abrennan]

Hello Indigorainhemp

Try the method advised by Dianecrna. We have it once in a blue moon at my place, usually as a pasta sauce. I've made pies outta the stuff.

Hey happycow dried TVP does expand quite a bit bit Seitan if you mean gluten by that I've never bought it dried only fresh or canned. But if you have it dried things usually expand quite a bit.

On the weekend I had fried gluten with chilli and ginger at a vietnamese/malaysian/chinese place in Marrickville where I live. Mmm Lovley. I had stir fried mixed veggies and young coconut juice. Woo hoo

antony

[LittleNellColumbia]

Thanks alot abrennan!

[PumpkinGuy]

Reading this thread has been quite helpful for me. I bought some TVP to experiment with but I also had a hard time finding any recipes for it in my favorite vegan book.

I had a difficult time figuring out what to do with it. It doesn't resemble ground meat IMO (then again I can't figure out why vegans need something that does.)

The short of this being that after reading your experiences, I can see why no recipes call for it. Now I just need to use mine up. Is it OK for making burgers?

[DianeVegan]

It can be added to your favorite burger mix but I wouldn't use it as the base. You may want to add tofu, wheat gluten, beans, bread crumbs, etc. to give it more body. I've tried experimenting with it but have not had much luck.

[cedarblue]

veggie mince...

now i usually buy the frozen stuff but i've noticed in a vegan cookbook i have that one receipe for meatballs speaks about the mince as if it can be squeezed out of the packaging and moulded.

its an american book - has anyone come across this product? loose mince never binds together very well i find.

[Risker]

I get the frozen stuff, morrisons own brand no less (I'm amazed that they even have it, it doesn't seem a very veggie friendly company).

I'd like the dried stuff but can't seem to find it anywhere.

Personally I'm not overly fond of it, I don't mind it and it's handy for saving time, but I prefer using something that's actually just plant rather than a product. Otherwise I'd much rather use lentils or kidney beans.

[pavotrouge]

Weird, no one really seems to like TVP but me... but on the other hand, I'm not too keen on tofu and seitan... I use TVP pretty often, whether the mince for bolognese-like sauces or the bigger chunks in Asian stir-fries (especially in Japanese sobameshi, it is great!). I like the texture and don't think it is too meaty.

Also, it's not expensive over here...the only bad thing about TVP is that is is barely nutrious, just plain protein. But since I seldomly use other processed meat substitutes, I guess it won't kill me.

@Tigerlilly: I know you can make seitan froms plain flour, as well, though I haven't tried it myself yet.

[PygmyGoat]

Cedarblue - have you tried the Dixer Diner dried faux meats from Veganstore?

[Jamie]

I have been using tvp on occation and didn't know it wasn't that healthy! oh well. My fave recipe for it is out of the Eva Batt Vegan Cooking book, curried TVP is the recipe, it's a lot like the curried sausages my mum used to make when I was little (but I never liked it then! lol needed to swap the meat for tvp chunks!!). I have also tried it in the mince form in just a couple of things but nothing else tastes as nice really. I might only use it if I wanted a mince type thing for a particular recipe, or the chunks in a stew or curried tvp.

Seitan, I have tried it from a packet mix from veganstore.co.uk which ends up quite expensive for the amount you get but I suppose it's a lot quicker and easier. I didn't actually make it, hubby did, but I suppose it just needed mixing and kneeding. It seemed to taste quite similar to what I had made from standard flour. I have made it from standard flour before and that takes an increadible amount of kneeding and a lot of water too, but obviously is much much much cheaper!!! I do get sore knuckles from all the kneeding though. I have only really used the end result in attemping to make a 'fried chicken' type thing, following the recipes in La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer... although we have added in breadcrumbs to the coating mix, and for the next time I'll go online to find out what the KFC secret herbs & spice blend is supposed to be and add some of that into the coating mix. It'll be Kentucky Fried Compassion! lol.

[PygmyGoat]

^ yum, let us know what that's like Jamie, I couldn't eat it but I'll enjoy imagining it!

[Haniska]

TVP gives me terrible gas. I gave it to my omni-dad.

[Jamie]

I've never noticed any excess gas from it! We just fart all the time anyway!! lol! But for me at least it doesn't smell that bad since I went vegan. Apart from after a curry. Hubby's just smells awful lots of the time and putrid the rest! He's lacto-ovo still though! He gets confused about the ettiquette though and farts in small spaces while he's still in them... or farts in our bedroom as he's leaving the room instead of in the hall where it'll disperse better and we don't have to sleep!

[Risker]

He gets confused about the ettiquette though and farts in small spaces while he's still in them... or farts in our bedroom as he's leaving the room instead of in the hall where it'll disperse better and we don't have to sleep!

Hahaha, I don't know why but this made me laugh.

Farting etiquette, brilliant

[Dreamer]

TVP gives me terrible gas. I gave it to my omni-dad.

same here. i question how much is actually absorbed if the gas is so terrible. i'd rather eat grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and tofu for protein. much easier to prepare IMO, cheaper, easier to find, and not nearly as much gas.