for 'native soybean tempeh'; was used to refer to the native soybean variety. White soybeans that are used to make most today used to be called ('white soybeans'), and were only available in Java centuries later. Mary Astuti, a food historian at Gadjah Mada University specializing in tempeh, argued that the native variety of soybean had been grown before the Chinese arrived in the region.

Sri Tandjung noted that Javanese had been eating cooked (native black) soybeans since the 12th century. By the 16th or the 19th century, depending