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

companies have started in America since the mid-1970s. The
majority of these are run by Caucasian Americans and most
use specialized tofu equipment made in Japan by Takai Tofu
& Soymilk Equipment Co., or by Sato Shoji.
1304. Hesseltine, Clifford W. 1989. Re: Seasons greetings at
Christmas (Folded card). Peoria, Illinois. 4 panels. Dec.
• Summary: Inside this Hallmark Christmas card (each panel
is 6¼ by 4½ inches) is written by hand, in blue ink, on the
right panel below the Hallmark greeting: “Still busy working
on the natto fermentation [bibliography] but have been
sidetracked repeatedly with other writing obligations.”
Note: The unpublished annotated bibliography, titled
Natto, a Little-Known Fermented Soybean Food, was
published in Nov. 1993. It was one of Dr. Hesseltine’s
retirement projects. He sent a copy of this very valuable
work to Soyfoods Center. Address: 5407 N. Isabell Ave.,
Peoria, Illinois 61614.
1305. Krieger, Verena. 1989. Soja als Nahrungsmittel:
genutzt oder missbraucht? [Soya as a food: Used or
misused?]. Zum Beispiel (Switzerland) No. 12. p. 15-17. Dec.
21. [Ger]
• Summary: Soybeans can be fermented to make miso, soy
sauce, tempeh, or natto. Or the protein can be extracted in
traditional ways to make soymilk, tofu, or yuba. One can also
make soy sprouts. In the Western world, soybeans are mostly
misused to make high-protein meal for livestock fodder, and
vegetable oil. Address: Lucerne, Switzerland.
1306. Taira, Harue; Tanaka, Hiromi; Saito, M. 1989. [Total
sugar, free type of total sugar, and free sugar contents of
domestic soybean seeds]. Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi
(J. of the Japanese Society of Food Science and Technology)
36(12):968-980. [Jap; eng]*
Address: National Food Research Inst., Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2-1-2 Kannondai,
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan.
1307. Product Name: [Natto].
Foreign Name: Natto.
Manufacturer’s Name: Daizou SARL.
Manufacturer’s Address: 883 Rue de Bernau–Z.I., 94500
Champigny sur Marne, France. Phone: 48 82 39 90 or
47.06.33.71.
Date of Introduction: 1989.
Ingredients: Soybeans, Bacterial culture (Bacillus natto).
New Product–Documentation: Form fi lled out by Anthony
Marrese based on an interview with Mr. Hirayama. 1989.
This product was introduced in 1989.
Talk with David de Korsak, who worked for Daizou.
1990. July 11. Daizou made natto for 6-9 months, from the
last quarter of 1989 until about mid-1990. Then they stopped
because of problems with contamination of their culture.
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 407
There is a big demand for fresh natto in Paris. Most natto is
imported frozen.
1308. Jideani, I.A.; Poloma, H.; Ndukwe, N.J. 1989.
Effect of different fermentation conditions on organoleptic
properties of “daddawa”–a Nigerian condiment. Nigerian J.
of Technol. Research 1(2):83. *
1309. Kato, Eihachiro. 1989. [Travels for natto in Africa–For
the investigation of the spread of soybeans in West Africa
by FAO]. Daizu Geppo (Soybean Monthly News) 156:18-26.
[Jap]*
1310. Kiuchi, Kan. 1989. Nattô [Natto]. In: Sozai to Ryôri
[Food Materials and Dishes]. Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha.
See p. 194-95. [Jap]*
1311. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO). 1989.
Utilization of tropical foods: Tropical oil-seeds. Rome, Italy:
Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO). xiv + 82 p. 21 cm. Series: FAO Food and Nutrition
Paper 47/5. *
• Summary: The 1st chapter, titled “Leguminous oil-seed
crops, has these contents: Soybean (p. 1-35): The golden
bean from China, varieties and production, soybeans in the
tropics. Hydrolysis of soybeans using microbial enzymes.
Nutritional and acceptability aspects of soybeans: Cooking
characteristics, soybean fl avour, digestibility of soybeans.
Soybean processing in eastern Asia: Fermentation of
soybeans. Fermentation inoculants: Koji and ragi, angkak
and masam [a green fermentation starter from Nepal,
made from wheat and selected moulds], preparation of
koji. Preparation of soy sauce: Traditional Japanese shoyu,
other types of soy sauce. Fermented soybean pastes: Types
of miso, preparation of miso koji, preparation of mame
miso, preparation of hamanatto. Other fermented soybean
products: Natto and thua nao. Indonesian tempe: Preparation
of tempe ragi, production of tempe kedele, other types of
tempe, domestic use and nutritional content of tempe. Foods
fermented by molds: Role of moulds in food processing,
food safety aspects. Non-fermented soybean products:
Production of soy milk, improving soymilk fl avour. Soybean
protein products: Preparation of tofu, preparation of yuba.
Soybean cheese products: Preparation of sufu (“The Chinese
prepare a fermented soy curd called sufu, which resembles
a moulded, soft-texture cheese.” Red sufu is made using
“red rice koji” (angkak)). Use of soy milk and tofu residues:
Preparation of oncom tahu, preparation of meitauza. Use of
soybean sprouts. Soybeans as a cash crop. Soybean as an oilseed:
Problems of small-scale extraction. Solvent extraction
of soybean oil: Economic aspects, extraction process,
refi ning operations. Nutritional and organoleptic aspects of
soybean oil. Commercial production of vegetable fats and
oils: Solid shortenings, effects of hydrogenation, hardness