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

Foreign Name: Tofu, Tempeh, Natto, Croquettes d’Okara.
Manufacturer’s Name: Gaïa Enterprise. Offi cially
registered in Jan. 1992.
Manufacturer’s Address: Rue Principale, 66130 Corbere,
France. Phone: 68.84.86.28.
Date of Introduction: 1988. March.
New Product–Documentation: Form fi lled out for Anthony
Marrese. 1989. Nov. These three products were introduced
in March 1988 by Odile Corbel & Dan Ludington. The
following amounts are presently produced: Tofu 3 kg/week
(sold fresh), tempeh 3 kg/week (non-pasteurized), natto 2
kg/month, and okara croquettes 2 kg/month. Odile started
making her own tofu for 2 people each week, then for
friends. A friend (Pauline Schaft) supplied her with tempeh,
natto, and koji for amazake. In 1986 she went to the Kushi
Institute in the USA. She returned to France at the end of
1987 with Dan and began her own small production daily.
Letter from Daniel S. Ludington. 1992. Feb. 7. He
has been making tofu, tempeh, and miso for sale for 3½
years. He learned to make them using books by Shurtleff
and Aoyagi. Now he would like to order their books Miso
Production, and Tofu & Soymilk Production.
Letter from Dan. Ludington. 1992. March 3. “Gaïa
Enterprise was offi cially registered with the Chambre de
Metiers of the Pyrenees Orientales in Jan. 1992. (She had
been unoffi cially in existence using the same name for
nearly four years).” Dan’s father was a 20-year career cook
in the U.S. submarine service. He died instantly of a heart
attack at age 54. Dan is the oldest of 4 boys. He received
a degree in chemical engineering from MIT in 1977, then
worked for Intel Corp. in their factory making silicon chips
for 5 years, then for Toshiba USA for another year. When
his father died, he kept a 10-year promise to himself to
hitch-hike around America. In or about Loveland, Iowa, his
chemical engineer’s eyes saw how chlorinated hydrocarbons
enter the food chain, and he decided to stop eating meat.
About 6 months later he was introduced to macrobiotics.
2½ years later he went to the Kushi Institute in Boston,
Massachusetts, to see if he could fi nd a better balance in his
diet. There he met Odile Corbel, a French woman with a
12 year-old son named Xavier and 10 years of macrobiotic
experience. They were married, and returned to France. 18
months later Dan got a Green Card. While Odile was in the
USA, Pauline Schaft had stopped making tempeh, and a
weekly, organically grown products market had started in
Perpignan. So he and Odile started making tofu, tempeh, and
macrobiotic British pasties and selling them at this market.
The business has grown until today sales are $400/week.
He and Odile are still married with 2 children of their own.
Pauline Schaft now goes by her maiden name of Van Marle;
she is now more involved with her yoga practice than with
making food. The company now sells 12-15 kg/week of tofu,
3-5 kg/week of tempeh, and 4 kg/week of miso, all direct and
without the use of labels, marketing, or distribution.
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 392
1259. Product Name: Natto Spore Kit (11 gm; extended
with organic rice fl our), or Commercial Natto Concentrated
Spores [2.2 gm vial].
Manufacturer’s Name: GEM Cultures.
Manufacturer’s Address: 30301 Sherwood Rd., Fort
Bragg, CA 95437. Phone: 707-964-2922.
Date of Introduction: 1988. March.
New Product–Documentation: Letter from Betty
Stechmeyer of GEM Cultures. 1991. Oct. 18. These two
basic products were introduced in March 1988.
1260. Hasegawa, Yoshie; Inuta, Toru; Obata, Hitoshi;
Tokuyama, Tai. 1988. [Introduction of a high vitamin B-12
productive natto strain through protoplast fusion]. Nippon
Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi (J. of the Japanese Society of
Food Science and Technology) 35(3):154-59. March. [12 ref.
Jap]*
• Summary: To breed a high vitamin B-12 producible natto
strain, protoplast fusion was done between Bacillus natto,
Takahashi No.2 (Arg-mutant), and a vitamin B-12 productive
strain, Bacillus megaterium IAM 1166 (Try-mutant).
Lysozyme of 250mcg/ml and 500mcg/ml was adopted for
the protoplast preparation of B. natto Takahashi No. 2 and
B. megaterium IAM1166, respectively, with 10% sucrose at
42ºC for 30 minutes. Protoplast fusion was carried out with
40% polyethyleneglycol 6000, and the regeneration was
performed on Sucrose Glutamate (SG) minimal medium
containing 10% sucrose and 3% polyvinylpyrolidon.
Preservation of the stringiness and vitamin B-12 productivity
of the protoplast strains were deeply affected by the
concentrations of lysozyme and sucrose. Three fusants which
were capable of producing stringiness and vitamin B-12
were isolated on SG medium, and the strong stringiness on
a steamed soybean by them were also observed in a similar
manner as B. natto. (From online abstract at http://www.
journalarchive.jst.go.jp/english/) Address: 1, 3-4. Faculty of
Engineering, Kansai University [near Oksaka, Japan].
1261. Ito, Kimio; Yasuhira, Hitomi. 1988. Kônôdo shokuen,
gurukoosu sonzaika ni okeru Bacillus subtilis no dôtai
[Behavior of Bacillus subtilis at high concentrations of NaCl
and/or dextrose (in miso)]. Shinshu Miso Kenkyusho Kenkyu
Hokoku (Report of the Shinshu-Miso Research Inst.) No. 29.
p. 25-32. [16 ref. Jap; eng]
• Summary: Behavior of Bacillus subtilis at high NaCl
and/or dextrose concentrate was examined, to evaluate the
hygiene of miso. Growth, germination and sporulation were
completely inhibited by 20% NaCl alone, 10% NaCl/20%
dextrose or 15% NaCl/10% dextrose. Critical water activity
for growth was 0.88.
1262. Product Name: [Freeze-dried Natto].
Manufacturer’s Name: Koishiya Shokuhin K.K.