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

1318. SoyaScan Notes.1989. Terms related to soyfoods,
soybeans, and the soybean industry: Library of Congress
subject headings and call numbers (Overview). Compiled by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Two different types of call numbers are used by
American libraries for cataloging their books. Most larger
libraries use the Library of Congress call numbers (LC
numbers, which start with two letters) and many smaller
libraries use the Dewey Decimal System (Dewey numbers,
which contain only numbers).
The following are from the Library of Congress Subject
Headings (12th ed. 1989) and the Library of Congress
Classifi cation Schedules. The fi rst edition of Class S
(Agriculture), for example, was published in 1911, and the
4th edition in 1982. BT = Broader terms. NT = Narrower
terms. UF = Use for. May Subd Geog = May subdivide
geographically, e.g., Soy sauce industry-Japan.
Class H is Social sciences and economics. Class Q is
science. Class S is agriculture (SB is plant culture. SB205
is fi eld crops, legumes). Class T is technology (TX includes
nutrition). Class Z is bibliography and library science.
HD9000-HD9019 Natural foods industry
Shortenings–Use oils and fats, edible.
HD9235.S6-.S62 Soybean industry
HD9235.S6-.S62 Soyfoods industry
HD9235.S6-.S62 Soymilk industry
HD9330.S63-.S633 Soy ice cream industry
HD9330.S65-.S653 Soy sauce industry
HD9330.T68-.T683 Tofu industry
HD9490 Soybean oil industry
QK495.L52 Soybean botany
SB205.S7 Soybean culture (Incl. Soybean Digest and
Soya Bluebook)
SB608.S7 Soybean–Diseases and pests
SF99.S Soybean as feed
SF99.S Soybean meal as feed
TP438.S36 Nattô manufacture
TP438.S6 Soy sauce manufacture
TP438.S6 Miso manufacture. BT Soybean as food. NT
Cookery (Soy sauce or miso)
TP684.S Soybean oil
TX401.2.S69 Soyfoods nutrition.
TX558.S6 Nattô nutrition. BT Fermentation, Soybean as
food, Soybean products.
TX558.S7 Soyfoods composition. UF Soybean as food.
NT Miso, Natto, Tempeh
TX558.T39 Tempeh
TX558.T57 Tofu
Z5074.S73S5 Bibliographies related to soybeans, or all
soya in various countries
Z5776.S63S5 Bibliographies on soyfoods
Z696.1.S68 SOYA (Information retrieval system)
The following soy-related terms have a subject heading
but no LC call number: Miso industry, Natto industry, Soy
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 411
sauce, Soybean fl our, Soybean glue, Soybean meal, Soybean
milk, Soybean products.
1319. Steinkraus, Keith H. ed. 1989. Industrialization of
indigenous fermented foods. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker.
xii + 439 p. 24 cm.
• Summary: This book contains the following chapters
on soyfoods: 1. Industrialization of fermented soy
sauce production centering around Japanese shoyu, by
Danji Fukushima. 2. Industrialization of Japanese miso
fermentation, by Hideo Ebine. It also contains chapters on
the industrialization of the production of sake, tapai, African
beers, magehu, ogi, and gari. The fi nal chapter is titled
“Industrialization of indigenous fermented food processes:
Biotechnological aspects.”
The book is dedicated “To the memory of Prof. Andre
G. van Veen, a pioneer in the study of indigenous fermented
foods.” Address: Inst. of Food Science, Cornell Univ.,
Geneva, New York.
1320. Ueda, Seinosuke. 1989. Industrial application of
Bacillus subtilis: Utilization of soybean as natto, a traditional
Japanese food. In: Bunji Maruo and Hiroshi Yoshikawa, eds.
1989. Bacillus subtilis: Molecular Biology and Industrial
Application. Tokyo: Kodansha; Amsterdam and New York:
Elsevier Press. xv + 267 p. See p. 143-62. [60 ref]
• Summary: Contents: Introduction. B. subtilis (natto):
Conditions for growth of B. subtilis (natto) (temperature,
pH, oxygen, biotin), plasmid of B. subtilis (natto),
bacteriophage of natto. Natto manufacturing process:
Introduction, outline of the manufacture of natto, soybeans
as raw material, soaking, cooking, inoculation, weighing
and packing, fermentation. Biochemical aspects of natto:
Change of components of soybeans during natto processing,
slime of natto, enzymes of B. subtilis (natto), fl avor of
natto, nutritional value of natto, effect of natto as medicine
(antibiotics, elimination of [pathogenic] microfl ora in
intestine, anticancer activity, effect on blood pressure,
vitamin K content in human milk).
In Japan, natto is sometimes itohiki natto to distinguish
it from salted, fermented whole soybeans made from
steamed soybeans and roasted wheat powder using the koji
mold, Aspergillus oryzae.
There are various theories concerning the origin of
itohiki natto, however it is clear that natto was made and sold
in Japan during the Edo period (1600-1867–about 400 years
ago). It originated in the northern part of Honshu, Japan’s
main island. Modern mass production of natto using pure
culture Bacillus subtilis started in about 1919.
Today in Japan there are about 700 natto factories using
about 95,000 tons of soybeans a year. Natto is most often
eaten for breakfast in Japan, with boiled rice, often with soy
sauce and mustard.
In 1906 the natto bacterium was fi rst named Bacillus