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

shoyu, and it is the only one that has been introduced to any
extent into other countries, where it is known as soy sauce...
“There are also several varieties of bean cheese or
similar products made from this legume which are very
important foods. These are natto, miso, and tofu. Natto is
made from soy beans that have been boiled for several hours
until very soft, small portions of the still hot mass being then
wrapped securely in bundles of straw and placed in a heated,
tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours. Bacteria, probably
from the air or the straw, work in the mass, producing an
agreeable change in its taste.
“For tofu, the soy bean, after soaking and crushing,
is boiled in considerable water and fi ltered through cloth.
To the resulting milky fl uid 2 per cent of concentrated sea
brine is added, which, probably by virtue of the calcium and
magnesium salts present, precipitates the plant casein, which
is then pressed into little snow-white tablets. It is made fresh
every day. Tofu is sometimes cooked in peanut oil before it
is eaten. In natto and miso the action of minute organisms
plays an important part. In tofu there is no such action. The
composition of a number of these products is as follows:”
A table (p. 11) shows the nutritional composition of food
products made from soy beans, including fresh tofu, natto,
white miso, red miso, Swiss miso, and shoyu (2 samples).
An illustration (non-original line drawing, p. 10) shows
a soy bean plant with a cluster of 7 pods to its upper left
(slightly changed from an original in Carrière 1880, p. 154).
This bulletin also discusses (with an illustration of each):
The bean–Broad or Windsor bean (Vicia faba). Kidney bean
(Phaseolus vulgaris). Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus). Scarlet
runner (Phaseolus multifl orus). Frijole (Phaseolus spp.).
Cowpea (Vigna catjang). Lablab bean (Dolichos lablab) and
other common varieties. Locust bean (Ceratonia siliqua).
The pea–Field pea (Pisum arvense). Garden pea (Pisum
sativum). Chick-pea or gram (Cicer arietinum).
The lentil (Lens esculenta). The peanut (Arachis
hypogæa).
Note 1. This is the earliest English-language document
seen (Aug. 2011) that uses the term “milky fl uid” to refer to
soymilk.
Note 2. Mary Hinman Able was not an employee of the
USDA or of the federal government. She was a pioneer in the
fi elds of nutrition, nutrition education, home economics, and
popularizing science for the general public. Between 1904
and 1913 she wrote several farmers bulletins for the USDA.
From 1909 to 1915 she was editor of the Journal of Home
Economics.
53. Boorsma, P.A. 1900. Scheikundig onderzoek van in
Ned.-Indie inheemsche voedingsmiddelen. De sojaboon
[Chemical analysis of some indigenous foodstuffs in the
Netherlands Indies. The soybean]. Geneeskundig Tijdschrift
voor Nederlandsch-Indie 40:247-59. [18 ref. Dut]
• Summary: Contents: Literature review. Introduction
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 46
(Boorsma is living in Java). Chemical composition of
indigenous soybeans: Table giving fi gures (based on
Boorsma’s original research) for large black, large yellow,
small yellow, unripe or immature black soybeans, soy protein
(eiwit in de soja) or legumine, the oil (De vette olie), analysis
of the ash, starch, the black soybean (zwarte kedeleh), use
of soybeans in Java and Japan. Japanese soy preparations
(Japansche soja preparaten): Shoyu (soja) made with
koji, tofu, yuba, miso and natto. Indigenous (Chinese)
preparations: Tempeh (tempe kedeleh), Indonesian soy sauce
(Ketjap–Bataviasche soja), tofu and pressed tofu (Tao-hoe en
Tao-koan), Indonesian miso and fermented black soybeans
(Tao-tjo en Tao-dji).
Note 1. This is the earliest document seen (Jan. 2012) in
any language that mentions “Tao-dji.”
Note 2. This is the earliest Dutch-language document
seen (Jan. 2012) that mentions fermented black soybeans,
which it calls Tao-dji.
Note 3. This is the 2nd earliest document seen (March
2009) that mentions Indonesian-style miso, which it calls
“Tao-tjo.” This is the earliest Dutch-language document
seen (Feb. 2009) that uses the word “Tao-tjo” to refer to
Indonesian-style miso.
The section titled “Japanese soy preparations” (p.
251-53) includes descriptions of koji, tofu, dried frozen
tofu, yuba, miso and natto, as follows: Tofu is the Japanese
name for a yellow-white to gray mass, which is prepared
by macerating the fi nely ground up soybeans with water; an
initial [natural] fermentation, which occurs alongside, creates
enough acid to precipitate part of the protein. Then a short
heating, causes as much fat as possible to bind to the protein,
so that the liquid after fi ltration has a milky appearance.
Through the addition of the highly alkaline magnesium
concentrate, a by-product of making sea salt, the protein is
precipitated, separated out by hand and shaped into cakes–
which contain lots of water, protein and fat. As a side dish or
in the preparation of soup, tofu is used a lot. To remove most
of the water, it is common to freeze and dry the cakes in the
sun afterward. Then they are called kori-tofu.
Yuba is an even fattier product obtained by the
evaporation of the cream layer, that aggregates on the surface
of the just mentioned bean milk.
In Japan, most soybeans are processed into cheese types,
called miso and natto [which the author confuses in the
following].
The cooked beans, that have been formed into a fi rm
dough are fermented again with koji, kitchen salt and water.
The temperature and the amount of kitchen salt, that one
uses, affect the nature of the product [miso] and the speed
of fermentation. Finally the mass is cooked for a long time
in the brine, separated and shaped into cakes. The resulting
vegetable cheese [natto] is then wrapped in bundles, of about
500 grams, of straw, and left to its own for a few days in a
heated space; where, according to Loew [sic, Yabe 1895,