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

no baiyô–Zoku [Cultivation of natto bacteria–Continued].
Jozogaku Zasshi (J. of Brewing, Osaka) 16(5):446-59. [Jap]
248. Hutchinson, C.M. 1939. Home-grown food in war time:
A direct method of production (Letter to the editor). Times
(London). May 16. p. 10, col. 1.
• Summary: In Japan, the peasant has long “been largely
dependent on the soy bean as his principal source of protein
food, and his relative physical energy and powers of
endurance as compared with the natives of other Oriental
countries, such as India, who are also largely vegetarians,
are well known. This difference is not due to the absence of
legumes in India nor because the soy bean is not cultivated
in the latter country, but to the fact that the Japanese are
acquainted with a method of preparing this vegetable for
human consumption in a manner which not only renders its
palatable but highly digestible and nutritious.
“In place of cooking in the ordinary manner of the bean
it is boiled and crushed and the resultant mash inoculated
with a ferment which in the course of a few days converts
it into a vegetable cheese, known as natto; this process
of fermentation is actually one of predigestion which
peptonizes and thus renders assimilable the whole of the
vegetable protein in the bean so that no strain is thrown upon
the digestive processes of the consumer.”
There is no reason why this fermentation process should
not be applied to beans grown in England.
Note 1. This is the earliest document seen (Jan. 2009)
that mentions soy beans during World War II. This war
would have a huge impact on production and utilization of
soybeans worldwide.
Note 2. Aldeburgh is on the east coast of England,
northeast of London, about midway between Lowestoft and
Harwich. Address: Alde End, Aldeburgh.
249. Hanzawa, Jun. 1939. Nattô [Natto]. In: Kôso Kagaku
Kôgyô Zenshu (Complete Enzymological Industry). Tokyo:
Koseikaku. [Jap]*
250. Matagrin, Am. 1939. Le soja et les industries du soja:
Produits alimentaires, huile de soja, lécithine végétale,
caséine végétale [Soya and soya industries: Food products,
soy oil, vegetable lecithin, and vegetable casein]. Paris:
Gauthier-Villars. x + 390 p. 18 cm. [300 ref. Fre]
• Summary: Contents: Introduction. 1. The agricultural,
industrial, and commercial history of soya: Asiatic origins
and propagation in Europe, soya in America (its cultivation
and industries), soya in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania
(1936) (1. Admission of soya in the agriculture and
industry of European nations (p. 35): Soya in France, soy
industry and commerce in central and northern Europe
{England, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland,
Austria and Hungary, Switzerland}, penetration of soya
into southern Europe {Iberian peninsula, Italy, Balkan
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 129
countries of Dalmatia, Istria, Yugoslavia, Greece (p. 47),
Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine}, the grandeur and decadence
of soya in Russia. 2. Soya in modern Asia (p. 51): China
and Manchuria, Japan, Korea, Formosa, French Indochina
{Tonkin, Cambodia, Cochin China}, the British and Dutch
Indies {Siam, Assam, Bengal, Burma, Ceylon, India, Straits
Settlements [later Singapore] / Malacca}, western Asia
{Turkestan, Persia (p. 57)}. 3. Soya in Africa and Australia
(p. 57-58): South Africa, Rhodesia, Nigeria, Gold Coast
[later Ghana], Cote d’Ivoire, Dahomey, Togo, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Australia {Queensland, New South
Wales, Victoria}, Tasmania, New Zealand, not yet in British
New Guinea [later Papua New Guinea], Philippines, Java).
2. The botany and agronomy of soya: The plant, its
names, its botanical characteristics, its varieties (original and
created by selection), the cultivation of soya. 3. The general
chemistry of soya: Chemical composition of the plant,
structure and chemical composition of the beans. 4. Using
soya in soyfoods and soyfood products: Whole soybeans
(fresh, dry, sprouted, roasted and salted (Fève grillée, fève
salée de soja, fèves de soja salées, p. 166-67), soynut butter
(un mélange rappelant les beurres végétaux), soy coffee, soy
confections, soy chocolate, soy sprouts), soymilk and tofu
(le lait et le fromage de soja), okara (pulpe résiduaire de la
préparation du lait de soja), fermented soy products (solid,
paste, and liquid condiments; natto, miso, and shoyu [soy
sauce]; kiu-tsee and lactic ferments), soy fl our and bread. 5.
The soy oil industry and products derived from it: Extraction
and refi ning of soy oil, properties and use of soy oil. 6.
The vegetable lecithin industry: Extraction of vegetable
lecithin, properties and use of vegetable lecithin. 7. The
vegetable casein industries and plastic materials based on
soya: Soybean cakes and fl ours from which the oil has been
removed, use of such cakes and fl ours, in the crude state, as
a raw material for plastics, manufacture and use of vegetable
protein, soybean cellulose for artifi cial silk, soya furfural and
furfuraldehyde (phenolic resins). Conclusion: How to launch
soya industries in France. important terms:
Note 1. This is the earliest French-language document
seen that uses the terms Fève grillée, fève salée de soja, or
fèves de soja salées, “roasted soy beans” to refer to soynuts.
Note 2. This is the earliest French-language document
seen (April 2005) that mentions soynut butter, which it calls
un mélange rappelant les beurres végétaux. Address: France.
251. Product Name: Tofu, Agé, Miso, Natto, Okara.
Manufacturer’s Name: Harada Tofu, Zakka-ten.
Manufacturer’s Address: P.O. Box 180, Fowler,
California.
Date of Introduction: 1939?
New Product–Documentation: The Japanese American
Directory. 1941. p. 283. Harada (Gonshiro) Tofu-ya
(in Japanese). Harada, G., P.O. Box 180 (in English),
Fowler, California. Phone: Not listed. This listing is in the