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

76, at All Soul’s Day). Miso soup (with namafu, shirouri,
and mustard), and Azukebachi (hot dish, with deep-fried
dumplings of bean curd and hamo {sea/conger eel}, and
broiled eggplants), and Hassun (with abalone cooked in saké
and miso, soy beans in the pod [green vegetable soybeans]
p. 149-50, plate 81, 85 & 86, at Moon Viewing). Miso soup
(with koimo, zuiki, and sesame seeds), and Mukôzuke (with
abalone, bean curd, and sesame seeds), and Wanmori (with
boiled pine mushrooms and bean curd, nori, citron peel, p.
161, plate 89 & 92, at Closing).
Interesting Glossary entries: (1) Daitokuji-nattô,
a “variety to which extra salt has been added, from the
Daitokuji temple in Kyoto where it was fi rst made as a
preserve to be eaten in times of famine.” (2) “Fu is the
general name for a light cake make of wheat gluten. The two
basic types of this cake are uncooked (namafu) and baked
(yakifu). The names that precede the suffi x refer to what has
been added to the gluten, the shape of the cake, or the area
famous for a certain kind of cake. Aonorifu is baked and
contains Aonokiro. Chôjifu is made long (=cho-) and cut to
fi t the bowl. Daitokujifu is fried cake that originated from the
Daitokuji temple in Kyoto. Temarifu is a cake in the shape
of a child’s ball (=temari). Wakanafu contains several kinds
of young greens (=wakana) that give it a fresh springlike
color.”
Note: This is the earliest English-language document
seen (Nov. 2011) that uses the term Daitokuji-nattô (with a
diacritical mark above the o -> ô, and hyphenated) to refer to
this Japanese type of “fermented black soybeans.” Address:
Kyoto, Japan.
577. Watanabe, Tokuji; Ebine, Hideo; Ohta, Teruo. eds.
1971. Daizu shokuhin [Soyfoods]. Tokyo: Korin Shoin. 271
p. Illust. Index. 22 cm. [134 ref. Jap; eng+]
• Summary: This is the best book published to date on
soyfoods in Japan; however it is written in Japanese.
Contents: 1. Classifi cations and varieties of soybeans (p. 1).
2. Physical characteristics of soybeans (p. 5). 3. Chemical
characteristics of soybeans (p. 9). 4. Standards and methods
of examining soybeans (p. 47). 5. Special characteristics and
problems of using soybeans for food (p. 53).
6. Current status of the soybean industry in Japan (p.
63). 7. Soymilk and various types of tofu: Aburage (deepfried
tofu pouches), ganmodoki (deep-fried tofu burgers),
kôri-dofu (dried frozen tofu), soymilk, and yuba (p. 75). 8.
Fermented soyfoods: Natto (p. 123-40), shoyu (p. 141-67),
miso (p. 168-95), fermented tofu (rufu) (p. 196-202). 9.
Other soyfoods: Kinako (p. 203-04), soy sprouts or moyashi
(p. 206-08), tempeh or tenpe (p. 209-17). 10. Quality and
usage of defatted soybeans (dasshi daizu) (p. 219).
11. New food uses of soybeans and especially defatted
soybeans (incl. 70% soy protein powder, soy protein curds,
soy protein isolate, surimi gel, spun soy protein fi bers)
(p. 229). 12. Advice regarding supplying protein from
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 195
organizations such as the United Nations and FAO (p. 257).
A 47-page translation of portions of this book (parts
of Chapter 6 and all of Chapter 7) by Akiko Aoyagi and
Chapters 8.1 and 8.2 by Alfred Birnbaum are available at
Soyfoods Center.
Tokuji Watanabe was born in 1917. Hideo Ebine was
born in 1921. Teruo Ota was born in 1926. Address: National
Food Research Inst., Tokyo.
578. Watanabe, Tokuji; Ebine, Hideo; Ohta, Teruo. eds.
1971. Nattô [Natto]. In: Tokuji Watanabe, H. Ebine and T.
Ohta, eds. 1971. Daizu Shokuhin [Soyfoods]. Tokyo: Korin
Shoin. 271 p. See p. 123-38. [5 ref. Jap; eng+]
• Summary: An excellent scholarly work. This chapter was
translated by Alfred Birnbaum. Chapter 8, titled “Fermented
soyfoods,” has four parts, beginning with “Natto.”
Introduction: There are two types of natto: regular natto
(itohiki natto), produced by the action of natto bacteria on
cooked soybeans, and salty natto (shio-natto), produced
by letting a koji mold [Aspergillus oryzae] grow on the
cooked beans [to make soybean koji], then adding salt
water. Although both are traditional fermented soyfoods
that have been passed down in Japan from ancient times,
the fermenting agent, production method, and nature of
each product are different. The main fermenting agent for
regular natto is bacteria and, as no salt is added to the basic
ingredients as with salty natto, the ripening time is shorter,
although the fi nished product does not keep well. Also
regular natto has the characteristic of forming large amounts
of sticky fi laments. We will discuss salty natto separately.
At present, the production of regular natto is by far the
larger of the two, being carried out in all regions of Japan;
this product is better known and is usually referred to as
simply “natto.”
8.1.1 Regular natto (itohiki nattô): (a) The history of
natto: The origins of natto are not certain, but tradition
has it that it was discovered some 1,000 years ago in the
Tôhoku [northeast] region of Japan and has been passed
down to the present. At fi rst it was made by wrapping cooked
soybeans in rice straw, but since 1920, when Dr. Hanzawa
of Hokkaido’s Agriculture Department fi rst succeeded in
producing pure-culture bacteria, industrialized production
has been carried out as it is today using this pure culture.
Whereas formerly, when natural fermentation dependent on
the natto bacteria found in the rice straw meant instability of
production levels and many questions of sanitation, this new
method has become the basis for today’s comparatively safe
industrialized natto production.
(b) Regionality of natto consumption: Before World War
II, consumption of natto was confi ned almost exclusively
to the Tôhoku region (northeast prefectures) and further
north, though recently it has spread throughout Japan. This
tendency is most noted in the cities, which are now areas of
large consumption. For example, looking at the cities listed