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

USA and Europe, and concluded that tempeh alone can be
used to start a food industry.
“Because of this book, I received a visit from 2 people
from the “Vitalizing Village Committee” of Kasuga-cho,
Hyojo-gun, Hyogo-ken. They asked me to give a lecture
on tempeh, for they wanted to consider whether tempeh
could be used to help vitalize the village. I accepted the
offer, but realized I needed more information on the subject.
So I contacted Murata sensei, professor emeritus at Osaka
Shiritsu Daigaku, who played a key role in organizing the
fi rst international Asian Symposium on Non-Salted Soybean
Fermentation in Japan. She and others at the university
sent me an encouraging letter, four articles on tempeh, and
information on tempeh cookery from the university.
“In late August 1987 I used these material to give a
40 minute lecture on tempeh followed by 20 minutes of
questions. It was decided to have a follow-up meeting
for tempeh tasting. Through Dr. Murata’s introduction I
received 2 kg of free tempeh from a maker in Aichi-ken.
The sampling was a big success and was written up in the
newspaper in a big way. The local Hyojo prefecture high
school food processing department started to experiment
with tempeh, and a women’s group, the Kasuga-cho
Commerce and Industry Group, began to experiment with
tempeh cookery. At the end of Sept. 1987 one of the teachers
at the high school succeeded in making tempeh, which made
the news. Then they started to make second generation
tempeh products, such as confections and breads. At their
local school festival in October 1987 he presented the
products and gained a good reputation.”
1268. Maeda, Toshiie. 1988. Mura okoshi–Tenpe sonjuku:
Tenpe zukuri ga hajimaru [Revitalizing a village–the tempeh
village school: Tempeh production gets started. II.]. Toyo
Shinpo (Soyfoods News). June 11. [Jap; eng+]
• Summary: In Nov. 1987 there was serious discussion of
having an international tempeh symposium in the town of
Kasuga-cho. This was the idea of Prof. Dr. Tadao Watanabe
of Kyushu Univ. Though the idea eventually had to be
dropped for lack of funding, the Fifth Tempeh Meeting was
held in the village of Kasuga-cho on 19 Dec. 1987. Many
prominent tempeh experts attended: Dr. T. Watanabe, Dr.
Murata, Mr. Kanasugi, and Mr. Takato. The latter two are
also involved with natto. After this meeting, some people
wanted to start making tempeh in the village. Taking the
initiative were Mr. Kenji Takami (a potter), Mr. Kazumasa
Takami (a wood sculptor), and later another Mr. Takami (a
horticulturist). They wanted to include tempeh in their lunch
program. They started to build a tempeh factory on part of T.
Takami’s pre-school, Meitoku Hoiku-en. Dr. Nishira Hiroshi
of Kobe University, Dept. of Agric. Chemistry, advised on
how to make tempeh starter. Experiments were conducted at
Kyoto Tanki Daigaku (Junior College).
In mid-January 1988 the group started to call itself
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 395
Tenpe Sonjuku: Kenko Shokuhin Tenpe Kenkyu Sakuru
(Tempeh Village School: Health Food Tempeh Study Circle).
They bought the best equipment for making tempeh starter.
Because of limited capital, they built the plant simply and
improvised. For dehulling, they used a tofu shop mill. For
separating the hulls by aspiration, a tomi developed during
the Edo period. For the incubation room, an inexpensive rice
sprouting room. For dewatering the beans, a used washing
machine centrifuge. For mixing in the tempeh starter, a
tofu burger (ganmo) mixer. For incubation trays, used rice
sprouting boxes. Address: Kobe Women’s Junior College,
food processing.
1269. Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko. 1988. Das Tofu-
Buch: Herstellung, Verwendung, Ernaehrungswert, Rezepte
[The book of tofu: Preparation, uses, nutritional value,
recipes]. Munich, West Germany: Goldmann Verlag. 384 p.
Illust. by Akiko Aoyagi Shurtleff. Index. 18 cm. [Ger]
• Summary: A pocket book edition of the original 1980
German edition of The Book of Tofu. Contains 300 recipes.
Address: Soyfoods Center, P.O. Box 234, Lafayette,
California 94549.
1270. Udesky, James. 1988. The book of soba. Tokyo and
New York: Kodansha International. 166 p. Foreword by
William Shurtleff. Illust. Index. 27 cm. [50* ref]
• Summary: Contents. Foreword. Introduction. I. Making
soba. Homemade soba noodles. Broth. Noodle dishes.
Country cooking. Groat cooking. Variations and desserts.
Ingredients. II. About soba. Nutrition. Buckwheat: From
seed to table. History. III. Appendices. The soba dining
experience. Selected soba restaurants in Japan. Oriental,
natural, and specialty food stores in the United States and
Canada. Bibliography.
Soy-related recipes include: Cold soba noodles with
natto and sesame (with “2/3 oz natto,” p. 59). “Fox Soba”
(Kitsune soba, with “4 pieces thin deep-fried tofu {aburaage
or usu-age}, p. 63). Soba noodles in miso stew (Kenchin
soba, Ibaragi prefecture, with “4-5 tablespoons miso,” p.
70). Soy-Soba noodles (with “4 oz soybeans” [whole dry
soybeans], p. 71). Broiled soba dumpling with miso sauce
(with “3-4 tablespoons sweet white miso,” p. 81-82). Soba
pasty (with “1½ oz natto, p. 85). Soy sauce is used in many
recipes.
The excellent “Ingredients” section (p. 91-98), gives
defi nitions of several soyfoods, including miso, natto, okara,
soy sauce, tofu, and tofu–thin deep-fried (abura-age, usuage).
The defi nition of “natto” is especially good: “Natto:
This rich soybean product with a cheeselike fl avor is still
underestimated, unappreciated, and misunderstood, mainly
because the sticky ‘threads’ resulting from its special
fermentation process are strong and stubborn, making it
pretty tricky for beginners to eat. Natto can be made easily at