History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

Manchuria–Production. Estimate of the world’s production
of the soya bean. London the principal market. Future
importance.
4. America. Australia. South Africa. Other British
possessions and protectorates. Java (Dutch East Indies).
Europe. 5. Unsuccessful experiments with soya fl our.
Ordinary soya fl our. Extracted soya fl our. Dr. L. Berczeller’s
discovery. The new soya fl our. Comparison with other cereal
fl our and other foods. Comparison in price with other cereal
fl our and other foods. Comparison in price of soya protein
compared with other cereal foods. Comparative analysis of
cereals. 6. Soya milk. Vegetable casein. Lecithin. 7. Increase
in food value. Savings. Industrial application in foodstuffs.
The importance of Dr. L. Berczeller’s soya fl our for the food
industry. Soya fl our and the food laws. Uses of soya fl our
in: Bread, pastry, cake, biscuits, confectionery, sausages,
infant foods and food for invalids, cocoa, chocolate, soup
cubes, pudding fl our. Uses in the kitchen. Soya fl our recipes
(for fl our made using the Berczeller process), soya fl our for
diabetics, recipes for diabetics.
The Preface states: “In the following pages the writer
has endeavoured to give an account of the numerous uses
to which the soya bean has so far been put, and to visualise
its future service to humanity through the means of a totally
new and practical process by which this legume... may in
future be used as an important article of food for general
consumption throughout every quarter of the globe.
“In compiling the details relative to the soya bean fl our,
with which this brief summary principally deals, he trusts
that he has succeeded in giving suffi cient data to enable
the reader to fully realise its value as a staple food from the
economic point of view, as well as from the more domestic
standpoint, so that the important fact may be fully realised
that a new foodstuff of a very valuable nature... has now
been brought within the reach of all nations to serve them in
a most practical manner as an economic article of food.”
The book includes statistics on the imports and exports
from 1923 to 1927 of “soya beans, soya oil, and soya cake in
various countries including China, Japan, England, France,
Germany, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and USA.
The “new soya fl our” is that developed by Dr.
Berczeller. This book repeatedly praises that fl our. “A few
years ago Dr. Laszlo Berczeller, a Hungarian physiologist
in Vienna, succeeded scientifi cally in fi nding a method
which enables us to prepare from the soya bean a digestible
and pleasantly fl avoured fl our without detracting from
its nutritive value, and this method entirely succeeds in
preserving all the good qualities contained in the bean itself.
Physiological experts and analysts withhold no praise, as the
following extracts will show: -” There follow words of praise
from: (1) Dr. Alfred Schwicker, M.P., Royal Hungarian
State Institute, Central Depot for Experimental Chemistry.
(2) Dr. Stefan Weisser, King’s Counsellor, Royal Veterinary
Physiological Experimental Station, Budapest. (3) Prof. A.
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 115
Durig., The Physiological Institute, University of Vienna.
Marakujew (1928) estimates the production of soya
beans in “Manchuria at 6 million tons at the utmost, the
production of the whole of China at 16 million tons, and
he is led to this fi gure by the conclusions of the Economic
Bureau of the South Manchuria Railway, which estimates
that the Manchurian crop in 1927 amounted to 37.1 million
kobu (5.88 million English tons), of which 2.6 million tons
originated from South Manchuria, 3.3 million tons from
North Manchuria” (p. 32). A table (p. 33) gives estimated
world production of soya beans from 1923 to 1929 (6.6
million tons, forecast). The leading producers in 1929 (in
million tons) are: China 5.250. Japan 0.580. USA 0.250. Java
and Dutch East Indies 0.120. Other Asiatic countries 0.400.
A soya milk factory was recently established in Denmark
(p. 54). Although this book contains a bibliography of 29
references, most are very incomplete.
Photos show: (1) A soybean plant with roots, pods, and
leaves. (4) Nodules growing on soybean roots. (5) One pod
and seed each from inoculated and uninoculated soybean
plants. (7) An immense fi eld of soya beans in Manchuria. (8)
Soya beans awaiting shipment, in house-shaped stacks under
tarps, at Dairen. (13) Seeds of the most important varieties of
soya beans now grown in the United States. (10) Two horses
and a farmer cultivating a fi eld of soybeans. (11) Harvesting
soya beans. (12) Well selected, clean soybean seeds.
A map (frontispiece) shows where soybeans are
cultivated worldwide. An illustration (facing p. 2) shows
“Shen-Nung. Emperor [of China] in 2838 Before Christ,
called ‘The Heavenly Farmer.’ Reproduced from a print in a
Vienna museum.”
One bar chart compares the nutritional composition
of soya fl our with that of cereals and animal products, and
other foodstuffs (p. 13), another compares the calories (p.
46), and a third compares the cost of 1,000 calories (p. 48).
Marakujew (probably spelled Marakiev or Marakuyev), in
“The Export of Manchurian Soya Beans and its Finance”
(1928, in Russian, probably an article rather than a book)
“estimates the production of Manchuria at 6 million tons
at the utmost, the production of the whole of China at
16 million tons, and he is led to this conclusion by the
Economic Bureau of the South Manchuria Railway, which
estimates that the Manchurian crop in 1927 amounted to
37.1 million kobu (5.88 million English tons), of which 2.6
million tons originated from South Manchuria, 3.3 million
tons from North Manchuria. According to the calculations
of this bureau, the home consumption of North Manchuria is
something like 40 of the production, viz., 1.3 million tons;
the remaining 2 million tons are for export. The exports of
South Manchuria were estimated at 1 million tons” (p. 32).
Address: London.
201. Sprecher von Bernegg, Andreas. 1929. Tropische und
subtropische Weltwirtschaftspfl anzen; ihre Geschichte,