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

increasingly popular in the United States and most grocery
stores carry it. In 1997, we established House Foods America
Corporation by merging the three enterprises: House Foods
Los Angeles Offi ce, which is in charge of the sales of House
Foods’ products from Japan, Curry House Restaurant, and
Hinoichi Tofu manufacturing. The new entity allows us to
provide better quality products to our customers. House
Foods America Corporation aims to bring the rich Japanese
food culture to the United States by providing high quality
food products to American customers.”
The new factory in Garden Grove makes 3 types of tofu,
natto, fried bean curd, and konnyaku. “This factory features
state-of-the-art equipment which can produce 150,000
packages of tofu per day.” As of March 1997 there are fi ve
Curry House restaurants in the Los Angeles area.
Contains many color photos including: Two views of the
outside of the new tofu factory in Garden Grove, California.
Curry and Chinese Mabo Tofu Sauce packages. Packages of
3 types of Hinoichi Tofu (regular, fi rm, and soft kinugoshi)
plus natto. The inside of a Curry House restaurant. Five
views of the equipment in the new tofu factory, including an
overview of the production area. Address: 7351 Orangewood
Ave., Garden Grove, California 92841. Phone: (714) 901-
4350.
1573. Pearce, Jean. 1997. Re: Japan Airlines (JAL) has
created a good-tasting freeze-dried and fl avored natto. Letter
to William Shurtleff at Soyfoods Center, March 1. 1 p.
Typed, with signature.
• Summary: Jean recently wrote an article about Japan
Airlines creating natto a new type of natto–freeze-dried and
fl avored–which has been very successful. “When your letter
arrived today, I had copies of the columns for you and the
JAL natto. I also wanted to get the kind that is available at
stores. You will have the package soon.”
Note: The commercial product was, indeed, tasty and
not sticky or stringy like regular stringy natto (itohiki natto).
Address: Columnist for the Japan Times, Tokyo.
1574. Tamang, Jyoti Prakash. 1997. Case study on socioeconomical
perspective of kinema, a traditional fermented
soybean food. In: Proceedings of the International
Conference on Traditional Foods. Mysore, India: Central
Food Technological Research Inst. (CFTRI). See p. 180-85.
Held March 6-8, 1997 at CFTRI. [19 ref]*
Address: Food Microbiology Lab., Dep. of Botany, Sikkim
Government College, Gangtok, Sikkim 737 102, India.
1575. Tamang, Jyoti Prakash. 1997. Traditional fermented
foods and beverages of the Sikkim Himalayas in India. In:
Proceedings of the International Conference on Traditional
Foods. Mysore, India: Central Food Technological Research
Inst. (CFTRI). See p. 96-116. Held March 6-8, 1997 at
CFTRI. [19 ref]*
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 489
Address: Food Microbiology Lab., Dep. of Botany, Sikkim
Government College, Gangtok, Sikkim 737 102, India.
1576. Labbé, Max. 1997. Ces étonnants aliments végétaux
fermentés et lacto-fermentés [Those astonishing fermented
and lactic-fermented vegetable foods]. Auvers sur Oise,
France: Published by the author. 116 p. Preface by Richard
Hwei-Ming Bau. Illust. No index. 21 cm. [Fre]
• Summary: Part III of this popular book, titled “Asiatic
Specialties,” contains the following sections and subsections
(p. 77-103): Chinese and Japanese fermented foods: Shoyu
and tamari, miso, umeboshi, nuka pickles, natto, sufu.
Characteristics and way of tempeh: Defi nition, preparation,
arrangement of grains before inoculation. Indonesian
tempeh: Preparation of the cakes, preparation of the
inoculum. Javanese tapé (tapeh) and its culture. Americanstyle
tempeh. A color photo on the rear cover shows Max
Labbé. Address: 3 rue Emile Level, F- 75017, Paris.
1577. Muramatsu, Kanako; Muraoka, Yasuhiko; Yasui,
Akemi; Suzuki, Tadano; Kiuchi, Kan. 1997. Bacillus subtilis
(natto) KFP 419 ni yoru erasutaaze no seisan [Study on the
deterioration of itohiki natto (Formation of struvite)]. Nippon
Shokuhin Kagaku Kogaku Kaishi (J. of the Japanese Society
for Food Science and Technology) 44(4):285-89. [20 ref. Jap;
eng]
• Summary: When itohiki-natto becomes old, white crystals
develop on its surface and its quality as a food greatly
deteriorates. The crystal, sold commercially as “struvite,”
is composed of magnesium, phosphorus, and ammonia.
Address: 1. Kyoritsu Women’s Univ., 2-2-1 Hitotsubashi,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, Japan.
1578. Hunter, Jean B. 1997. Research on foods for lunar
and planetary stations (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. May 6.
Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: In late 1996 Jean received a $500,000 grant
from NASA (North American Space Administration) to study
foods for lunar and planetary stations. They are going to
hire a dietitian; they already have a chef and a link with an
institutional food manager. They are going to develop vegan
and near-vegan recipes, food processing equipment, and
menus suitable for use in the future of space exploration in
bioregenerative life-support systems.
The basic assumptions are that crews rotate in and out
every 6 months–as on the Russian space station Mir, 85 to
90% of the food must be produced in outer space, but 10-
15% may be supplied by re-supply operations. These latter
foods include fats and oils (incl. as butter), sweeteners, hard
cheeses, egg whites, etc. Anchovies and bacon bits will be
used as condiments. There will be no live food animals (such
as chickens or fi sh) on board. She will continue her research
on fermented food. Foods in which both she and Soyfoods
Center are interested include Amazake (sweetener),