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

Letter to William Shurtleff at Soyfoods Center, Dec. 19. 1 p.
Handwritten, with signature.
• Summary: “I’m interested in making some natto. Please
send info. on the starter for natto, the tools or machinery for
making natto, and any other available catalogs or technical
manuals I might purchase from you. To your knowledge,
are there any producers of natto in the U.S.? Sincerely,...”
Address: Rt. 5, Box 62, Morgantown, West Virginia. Phone:
(304) 291-0414.
1277. Brown, Judy. 1988. The joy of soy: Nutrition for the
‘80s. Body, Mind & Spirit. Nov/Dec. p. 30-32.
• Summary: Contents (Soyfoods, nutrition, and a healthy
diet). Tofu. Tempeh. Miso. Natto. Okara. Soy cheese & soy
yogurt. Soy fl our & grits. Soymilk. Soy sauce. Resources:
Eden Foods, Fantastic Foods, Inc., Lumen Foods Corp.,
San-J International. Vitasoy (U.S.A.) Inc., Westbrae Natural
Foods (Downey, California). Address: President, In Good
Taste, 5923 John Adams Dr., Camp Springs, Maryland
20748.
1278. Tamang, Jyoti P.; Sarkar, Prabar K.; Hesseltine,
C.W. 1988. Traditional fermented foods and beverages of
Darjeeling and Sikkim–A review. J. of the Science of Food
and Agriculture (London) 44(4):375-85. Dec. [9 ref]
• Summary: About 70% of the inhabitants of the Darjeeling
district of the state of West Bengal and about 90% in the
state of Sikkim (a total of 1.15 million people) traditionally
consume large quantities of fermented foods and beverages...
The common fermented foods and beverages of the region
include kinema, gundruk, sinki, mesu, churpi, shel roti and a
variety of jnards.
Includes a discussion of kinema. Although traditionally
used by the Nepalese, kinema is now popular among the
Lepchas and Sikkimese who call it respectively ‘satlyangser’
and ‘bhari.’
Note: This is the earliest document seen (Jan. 2012) that
mentions “bhari,” the Sikkimese [Bhutia] name for Nepalese
kinema, or “satlyangser,” the Lepcha name for Nepalese
kinema, which is a close relative of Japanese natto.
Soya beans are washed, soaked in water overnight,
cooked by boiling and cooled to room temperature. They are
then crushed lightly with a wooden ladle to split the kernels.
A small amount of fi rewood ash is added and blended with
the whole soya bean grits which are traditionally wrapped
with banana (Musa paradisica L) or (Leucosceptrum canum
Smith) leaves; polyethylene bags are sometimes used also.
The wrapped mass is covered with sackcloth and kept in a
warm place, usually above an earthen oven in the kitchen for
1-2 days during summer or 2-3 days in winter. The formation
of mucilage and an unpleasant ammoniacal aroma indicates
the desired state of fermentation. Kalimpong kinema has a
darker brown color but is less mucilaginous than the kinema
from elsewhere. The product is similar to Indonesian tempeh
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 397
[sic] and Japanese natto. Kinema is used to give a pleasant,
nut-like fl avor to curry. It is also dried, fried in edible oil and
mixed with salt, onion and chilies to produce pickle.
Figure 1 shows a fl ow sheet of kinema production:
Soya beans (1 kg), washed. Soaked in water (3 liters for
8-10 hours). Excess water drained off. Water added. Cooked
(1-1.5 hours in open cooker or 10-12 minutes in pressure
cooker). Excess water drained off. Cooled. Crushed to grits.
Firewood ash (ca. 1 g). Mixed. Wrapped. Fermented (25-
35ºC, 1-3 days). Kinema (ca. 2-5 kg).
Fresh kinema keeps for a maximum of one week. The
shelf life is often lengthened to one month by drying in the
sun or by keeping on earthen ovens in kitchens. Address:
1-2. Dep. of Botany, Univ. of North Bengal, NBU 734430,
District of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India; 3. NRRC, ARS,
USDA, Peoria, Illinois 61604.
1279. Beddows, C.G. 1988. The old fashioned way with
soya. Food Science & Technology Today 2(1):12-15. [6 ref]*
• Summary: The following soybean products are described
briefl y: soymilk, bean curd, tofu, tempeh, natto, sufu, miso,
shoyu, and yuba. Protein yields are given for a range of plant
crops versus milk and beef, e.g. soybeans 3500 kg/ha/annum
versus 75 kg/ha/annum for beef. Recipes are included for
miso cream cheese dip and deep fried tofu and miso soup.
The marked rise in consumption of soybean products in
the USA in recent years is noted. Address: Dep. of Applied
Sciences, Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds LS1 3HE, England.
1280. Onishi, R.; Abe, K.; Honma, S.; Aida, K. 1988. [A
protease in natto inoculated with Bacillus natto IAM 1114].
Nippon Kasei Gakkai-shi (J. of Home Economics of Japan)
39:13-19. (Chem. Abst. 108:220540. 1988). *
1281. Waters-Bayer, Ann. 1988. Soybean daddawa:
An innovation by Nigerian women. ILEIA Newsletter
(Information Centre for Low External Input Agriculture,
Leusden, Netherlands) 4(3):8-9. *
• Summary: The innovation is to use soybeans, which are
increasingly abundant in Nigeria, in place of the traditional
African locus beans, which are increasingly scarce.
Compared to African locust beans, soybeans are easier
to prepare, and being smaller, take only about a quarter as
long to cook. Also, soy dawadawa has no disadvantage with
consumers compared to the traditional locust bean dadawa.
A signifi cant advantage of soybeans is that it is an annual
crop, so its production can be readily increased to respond
to increased demand. By contrast, African locust bean trees
begin fruiting after 8 years and take 8 more years to reach
peak production.
1283. Wood, Rebecca T. 1988. The whole foods
encyclopedia: A shopper’s guide. New York, NY: Prentice
Hall Press (Simon & Schuster). xv + 218 p. Foreword by