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

tempeh. Preparation time–less than 2 hours. Incubation time–
about 24 hours at 85 F (32 C). Kept cool and dry, PTS has at
least a 6-month shell life at full potency.
“Kit PTS, 11gm, three 1-pound batches (makes 5+
pounds). $2.50 each.
“Big PTS, 35 gm, ten 1-pound batches (makes 18
pounds). $4.00 each.
“Half Kilo PTS, 500 gm, packaged in bulk. $35.00 each.
“Full Kilo PTS, 1000 gm, packaged in bulk. $65.00
each.
“Powdered Natto Starter: Called Natto in Japan and
Thau-nao in Thailand this cultured soyfood has a strong,
somewhat persistent, unique fl avor. The bacteria, Bacillus
subtilis var natto, that culture the cooked soybeans make a
sticky, viscous polymer during the 6-12 hours of incubation
which creates whispy threads evident when the cultured
soybeans are pulled apart. A good source of protein, this
robust soyfood adds zest to any grain or noodle dish, soup or
sandwich. A little goes a long way, so what is not intended
for use in a day or two may be easily frozen.
“Natto Starter Kit: This packet contains complete culture
directions, recipes, and enough spore to start 3 recipes of
natto, each making 5 cups or 1½ pounds.
“Bulk Natto Starter: A concentrated spore preparation,
this vial has suffi cient spore to start 48 pounds of dry
soybeans. Prepared according to the included directions it
will therefore make about 86 pounds of natto.
“Natto Starter Kit: Makes 4½ pounds. $2.50.
“Commercial Natto Starter: Makes 86 pounds. $10.00.”
Also: Amazake, miso, shoyu, and tamari starters from
Japan. Five types of tane koji (koji starter) imported from
Japan. Commercial miso and shoyu koji spore packets.
Organic light rice koji. Natural salts for curding tofu: Natural
nigari, Terra Alba calcium sulfate. Self-renewing cultures:
Kombucha tea fungus. Fresh sourdough. Seed miso. Fresh
fi l mjolk, fresh viili, fresh kefi r curds. Cookbooks with
culture. Sea vegetables from the Mendocino Sea Vegetable
Co. Kitchen culture items. Address: Fort Bragg, California.
Phone: 707-964-2922.
1418. Reid, T.R. 1992. Japan’s ‘fi rst’ star in space: Shuttle
crew member fascinates home crowd. Washington Post.
Sept. 19. p. A1.
• Summary: “Tokyo–News Flash from Florida: NASA has
nixed fermented soybean paste” [natto]. The Japanese have
taken a strong interest in Mamoru Mohri, age 44, a Japanese
who is now aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, orbiting the
Earth. This is a bit surprising since he is not the fi rst Japanese
in space; Toyohiro Akiyama rode in a Soviet rocket to the
Mir space station in Dec. 1990.
Before takeoff there were some stories about Mohri’s
efforts to take common Japanese items on board. “Mohri
had hoped to bring along some snacks made of natto, a
stringy, smelly dark paste of fermented soybean. Evidently
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 439
fearing that loose strands fl oating weightlessly around the
crew quarters might cause international tension, NASA
nixed natto. To soften the blow, NASA agreed to let Mohri
bring along some umeboshi, a spicy pickled plum.” Address:
Washington Post Foreign Source, Tokyo.
1419. Toyo Shinpo (Soyfoods News).1992. Nattô no
itohikisei teikazai oyobi kore o mochiiru itohikisei no nai
nattô no seizôhô: Tokkyo shutsugan shôroku. Kikkôman
(K.K.) ga shutsugan [Making the agent that reduces the
sticky properties of natto and making natto that is less
sticky: Details of the patent application. Kikkoman was the
applicant]. Oct. 1. p. 12. [Jap]
1420. Shannon, Dennis A. 1992. Work with soybeans in
Nigeria (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. Oct. 9. Conducted by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Dennis worked as a soybean breeder with
IITA in Nigeria, where the center of soybean production is
currently Benue state in south central Nigeria. Benue state
has been growing soybeans since the end of the 1930s, when
the variety Malayan was introduced. Soybeans were seen
as an export crop until the Biafran war; at that time exports
ceased but curiously production continued. When he was a
graduate student in 1980-81 doing his research in Nigeria,
he found soybeans being grown in Benue state. Yet farmers
don’t eat the soybeans. Some farmers told him: “They used
to tell us that soybeans are good to eat but they would also
tell us that they are poison.” So the farmers sold the soybeans
to Hausa traders who would ship them to Kafanchan, in
Kaduna state, where they were made into dawa-dawa
(dadawa, iru). Kafanchan is the center of soybean dadawa
production. Hendrick C. Knipscheer had a Nigerian graduate
student who did a survey on dawa-dawa; he found that
some of it was even making its way into Niger and Chad. A
Peace Corps Volunteer named Woodworth worked with Ken
Dashiell at IITA in 1988-89 doing surveys on soybeans. He
found that quite a few people are eating soybeans now in
Benue state, either as dawa-dawa or as a partial substitute
for cowpea in moimoi (steamed cowpea fl our) or akara
(dumplings). The soybeans were less expensive and more
nutritious than cowpeas. When he arrived in Nigeria in
the mid-1980s, there was almost no soybean production in
western Nigeria. Increasingly, soybeans in Nigeria are being
used as food.
In Nigeria IITA developed a cropping system named
“alley cropping” as a way of maintaining the productivity
of the soil, improving soil conservation, and reducing
erosion. You plant hedgerows of fast-growing trees (typically
Leucena species) about 12 feet apart, then before planting
crops between the rows you prune the trees and spread the
leaves on the ground to provide nitrogen and organic matter.
Between the rows you can plant maize, cassava, soybeans,
etc. You must prune the trees at least once while the ground