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

Vegetarian Times. Aug. p. 33-40. No. 96. [14 ref]
• Summary: An overview of fresh green soybeans, whole
dry soybeans, soynuts, soy sprouts, soy fl our & soy grits,
soy oil, soy protein isolates, soymilk, okara, tofu, tempeh,
soy sauces, miso, natto. Concludes with a list of 14
recommended books on soyfoods.
1097. Eckett, Alison. 1985. Beating the protein crunch:
A growing number of people are discovering the range of
soyfoods, both traditional and modern, that can be made
from this bean. Food Processing (UK) 54(8):25-28. Aug.
• Summary: “The term ‘soyfoods’ is a recent generic
expression that has been used to describe the complete
range of soy products prepared for human consumption. It
covers both high technology, modern products such as soy
[protein] fi bres, concentrates and isolates which are mainly
used as ingredients by food manufacturers... and includes the
traditional low technology products of soymilk, soy sauce,
miso, natto, tofu, tempeh and soy sprouts that have formed
part of the staple diet in East Asia for thousands of years.”
Soyfoods are divided into non-fermented and fermented.
Photos show: (1) Miso Dip (front of two packages). (2)
Cubes of tofu under water. (3) Nasoya Tofu Vegi-Dip.
(4) Sliced cakes of tempeh. (5) The front of four tempeh
packages, made by The Tempeh Works. (5) White Wave
tempeh, a tempeh burger, and a promotional piece. (6) A box
of Tofu Lasagna, made by Legume, Inc. (7) The front of a
package of “6 All Natural Vanilla Ice Bean Sandwiches,”
made from Ice Bean by Farm Foods.
1098. Hesseltine, C.W. 1985. Fungi, people, and soybeans.
Mycologia 77(4):505-25. July/Aug. [92 ref]
• Summary: In this Mycological Society of America Annual
Lecture, presented on 7 Aug. 1984 at Colorado State
University (Fort Collins, Colorado), Dr. Hesseltine gives a
nice history of the research conducted by him and others at
the Northern Regional Research Center (NRRC) on Asian
soybean fermentations, including fermented tofu (Frank
Meyer, early USDA plant explorer, in a letter dated 21 Nov.
1916, states: “Parcel No. 125c contains fi rst quality Chinese
soybean cheese: please taste a little on the point of a knife;
it is extremely appetizing.”), sufu, shoyu, miso, tempeh,
Chinese black beans (fermented black soybeans), natto, and
“the use of lactic acid bacteria to produce a yogurt product
from soybeans.” He also studied non-fermented tofu.
Dr. Hesseltine pays a nice tribute to the work of Dr. A.K.
Smith of the NRRC (p. 506-07). After his trip to East Asia
shortly after World War II, Dr. Smith (a protein chemist)
made great efforts to promote cooperation between the
USDA, particularly the NRRC, and Japan in conducting
research to understand how our exported soybeans were used
for food. He had the foresight to recognize the importance
of studying soybeans used in such huge quantities for
processing into human food. Dr. Smith was instrumental in
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 349
arranging for two Japanese scientists (Dr. Tokuji Watanabe
and Dr. Kazuo Shibasaki) to come to the NRRC to do
research on tofu and miso. “This really began a new era of
research on use of Oriental methods to produce foods from
soybeans” (p. 507).
“My fi rst real involvement in fermentation of soybeans
was the arrival [in Oct. 1958] of Professor K. Shibasaki
of Tohoku University to study the miso fermentation. He
was sponsored by the American Soybean Association and
USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. When he arrived,
I was told that since I was curator of the mold collection
and since the Aspergillus oryzae strains used in the miso
process were in my charge, I would be the person he would
work with. I had no background and no interest in soybean
fermentations, but this was a fortuitous happening because
it acquainted me with Oriental food fermentations. All my
background was in conventional liquid agitated pure culture
fermentation. The miso fermentation introduced me to two
new concepts in fermentation: (1) solid state fermentation,
and (2) use of mixed pure culture inoculum” (p. 510).
“Probably my interest in fermented foods would have
abated had it not been for the acceptance of Mr. Ko Swan
Djien of Indonesia, who came to us in 1960 for practical
training. In my fi rst discussion with him, we talked about the
kind of work he would do. Since I knew that a fermentation
was conducted in Indonesia using soybeans and reportedly
the fermentation organism was a species of Rhizopus, I
asked him if he was familiar with the product; his answer
was yes, that he often ate it, but he knew nothing about how
the fermentation was conducted. It was decided that during
his 6 months at Peoria this might be an interesting subject to
study, especially since he could obtain samples of the tempeh
cake from his wife, who was in Java and could tell good
tempeh from bad. Dried samples were quickly obtained;
from these cakes, four species of Rhizopus were isolated” (p.
514-15). Eventually many strains of Rhizopus were isolated
and investigations showed that Rhizopus oligosporus strain
NRRL 2710 produced especially good tempeh.
Photos show four famous Japanese scientists who
studied fermented foods: (1) Prof. Teizo Takahashi. (2)
Ryoji Nakazawa. (3) Kin-ichiro Sakaguchi. (4) Kendo Saito.
Address: NRRC, ARS/USDA, Peoria, Illinois.
1099. Toyo Shinpo (Soyfoods News).1985. Nattô girai wa son
o suru: Ryôri no barieishon. Nattô mo konna ryôri ni henshin
[If somebody doesn’t like nattô, too bad for them: Cooking
variations. Natto can change into these kinds of recipes].
Sept. 21. p. 9. [Jap]
• Summary: Three photos show three different dishes,
including Natto loaf and Natto ankake.
1100. Martin, Bradley K. 1985. You have to be crazy–or
Japanese–to eat natto. Wall Street Journal. Sept. 25. p. 35.
• Summary: One American who thought he could eat