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

umeboshi concentrate, wakame, yuba. Address: P.O. Box
500, Becket, Massachusetts 01223-0500. Phone: 1-800-645-
8744.
1642. Liu, KeShun. 1999. Oriental soyfoods. In: C.Y.W. Ang,
K. Liu, and Y-W. Huang, eds. 1999. Asian Foods: Science &
Technology. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Technomic Publishing
Co., Inc. 546 p. See p. 139-99. Chap. 6. March. [60 ref]
• Summary: Contents: Introduction: Soybeans as a crop,
composition and nutritional quality of soybeans, soyfoods–
from the east to the west, soyfood classifi cation.
Soymilk: Introduction, traditional soymilk, modern
soymilk (techniques for reducing beany fl avors, commercial
methods, formulation and fortifi cation, homogenization,
thermal processing, and packaging), concentrated and
powdered soymilk, fermented soymilk (with lactic acid
bacteria), soymilk composition and standardization.
Tofu: Introduction, methods of tofu preparation, factors
involved in tofu making (soybean varieties, concentration
of soymilk, heat process of soymilk, types of coagulants,
concentration of coagulants, coagulation temperature,
coagulation time, process automation, packaging), varieties
of tofu (silken tofu, regular and fi rm tofu, Chinese semidry
tofu {doufu gan}, Chinese tofu sheets and tofu noodles,
lactone tofu), varieties of tofu products (deep-fried tofu,
Japanese grilled tofu, frozen tofu, Japanese dried-frozen
tofu, Chinese savory tofu, fermented tofu {Sufu or Chinese
cheese, varieties of sufu, preparation methods, preparation
principle}).
Soymilk fi lm (yuba). Soybean sprouts. Green vegetable
soybeans. Other non-fermented soyfoods: Okara, roasted soy
powder.
Fermented soy paste (Jiang and miso): Koji, koji
starter, and inoculum (koji, koji starter, inoculum), Chinese
jiang (traditional household method, pure culture method,
enzymatic method), Japanese miso (preparing rice koji,
treating soybeans, mixing and mashing, fermenting,
pasteurizing and packaging), principles of making jiang or
miso.
Soy sauce (Jiangyou or shoyu): Chinese jiangyou
(traditional household method, modern methods), Japanese
shoyu (treatment of raw materials, koji making, brine
fermentation, pressing, refi ning), principles of making soy
sauce, chemical soy sauce (made by acid hydrolysis; heat
with 18% hydrochloric acid for 8-12 hours, then neutralize
with sodium carbonate and fi lter to remove insoluble
materials), proximate composition of soy sauce, quality
attributes and grades.
Japanese natto: Methods of preparation, principles of
preparation.
Indonesian tempeh: Traditional method, pilot plant
method, principles of tempeh preparation. Fermented black
soybeans (Douchi or Hamanatto): Chinese douchi, Japanese
Hamanatto.
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 507
Tables: (1) Names (English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Indonesian, Malay, Filipino) general description, and
utilization of nonfermented Oriental soyfoods. (2) Names
(English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malay,
Filipino) general description, and utilization of fermented
Oriental soyfoods. (3) Proximate composition (gm per 100
gm fresh weight) of some fermented soyfoods.
Figures show: (1) Flowchart: Traditional Chinese
method for making soymilk and tofu (from whole soybeans).
(2) A commercial processing method (Alfa Laval) for
making soybase and a subsequent product–soymilk. (3)
Photo of homemade fi rm tofu. (4) Photo of a dish of tofu and
mushrooms. (5) Photo of cubes of sufu (Chinese cheese) on
a white plate. (6) Flowchart for making sufu from fi rm tofu.
(7) Photo of two packages of dried yuba sticks (Chinese). (8)
Photo of a bowl of soy sprouts. (9) Photo of Chinese chiang,
and Japanese red and white miso, each on one of three
spoons in a shallow white bowl. (10) Flowchart of a common
method for making Japanese rice miso [red miso]. (11) Photo
of soy sauce in three different containers: dispenser, small
bottle, and large Chinese can. (12) Flowchart of a common
method for making Japanese koikuchi shoyu (soy sauce).
(13) Photo of two chopsticks lifting some Japanese natto
from a bowl full of natto; the thin strings connecting the
natto above and below are clearly visible. (14) Flowchart
of a common method for making Japanese natto from
whole soybeans. (15) Photo of tempeh made in the USA in
perforated plastic bags (Courtesy of Mr. Seth Tibbott, Turtle
Island Foods, Inc., Hood River, Oregon). (16) Flowchart
of traditional Indonesian method for making tempeh from
whole soybeans. (17) Photo of Chinese douchi (fermented
black soybeans) on a white plate.
Note: For a biography of KeShun Liu PhD see p.
544. Address: PhD, Soyfoods Lab., Hartz Seed, A Unit of
Monsanto, Stuttgart, Arkansas.
1643. Warmuth, Manfred. 1999. Update on vitamin B-12 and
tempeh (Interview). SoyaScan Notes. April 1. Conducted by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center. [1 ref]
• Summary: Manfred just talked with Dr. Keith Steinkraus
who said he isolated a harmless strain of Klebsiella
pneumoniae that produced vitamin B-12 in tempeh, and
had it tested in a medical laboratory. Then he sent samples
to people at The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee, but they
never added it to their commercial tempeh starter–for fear
that something might go wrong and they would be held
responsible and possibly sued.
Manfred found 5-6 recent articles on MEDLINE
concerning tempeh and vitamin B-12. Apparently Bacillus
subtilis [the main bacterium used in the natto fermentation]
can also produce vitamin B-12.
Update: Talk with Manfred. 1999. April 10. Manfred just
fi nished experiments using a mixed inoculum (containing
approximately equal parts of Rhizopus, Neurospora, and