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

Erewhon when the bin was fi nished. But the store needed
more fi xtures, so Joseph made a bid, signed a contract, then
installed new check-out stands, new shelves, and units to
hold the crocks of bulk tamari, barley malt, etc. Joseph had
a family to support, and carpentry was his livelihood, so
he was paid for all work he did in the Boston area. Later,
over 4-day weekend, he worked to tear out old bathrooms
and offi ce spaces to open up the cramped front of the
Erewhon store. He also did some work on a new Erewhon
store in Brookline. After Erewhon moved out of their old
4-story brick warehouse, he worked on the huge modern
warehouse that Erewhon moved into. The Kushi’s house on
62 Buckminster Road had been the headmaster’s house for a
private school. Upstairs there was an institutional bathroom.
Aveline asked Joseph to remodel it to make a private
bathroom–with lots of tile. After about a year of working
for the macrobiotic community (always for pay), Joseph
got “burned out” and went to work for a regular contractor
unconnected to macrobiotics.
1977 Christmas–Joseph and Patricia go to Florida for
Christmas, one of many trips they took there. In early 1978
Joseph worked as a carpenter for several months in Sandy
Pukel’s Oak Feed Restaurant in Coconut Grove, Florida. He
had gotten to known Sandy because his wife, Patricia, and
Sandy were close friends; they had fi rst met when they both
went to a seminar Michio Kushi gave in Coconut Grove.
After the restaurant opened, in about May 1978, Joseph and
Patricia took a vacation to Jamaica. During the summer and
fall of 1978 Sandy came to Boston several times. Each time
he and Patricia and Joseph went out to dinner together. Sandy
mentioned that he was thinking of starting a miso company
and asked if they might be interested in getting involved.
They expressed interest, but no defi nite plans or offers were
made.
1979 Feb.–Joseph’s second child, Benjamin, is born in
Boston to his wife Patricia. The Carpenters took many trips
to Florida, especially during the winter, to visit Patricia’s
parents. In about March 1979, over a long weekend, when
Patricia and their two children were vacationing in Florida
(visiting her parents), Sandy Pukel paid for Joseph to fl y
from Boston to South Florida for a meeting to discuss the
part that the Carpenters might have in the development of
the new miso company. Sandy knew Joseph’s skills as a
carpenter. Joseph recalls that the meeting was at Edmund
Benson’s house. Sandy said that he wanted Patricia and
Joseph to become part of the miso company. In exchange
for their labor, they would be given a share of the business
ownership worth $25,000. Joseph does not recall whether
they would receive the $25,000 once or each year that they
worked–but he defi nitely recalls the $25,000 offer. Joseph
recalls that the talk at this fi rst meeting was very general
in terms of what kind of carpentry or construction work he
would do for the company.
1979 May (late)–Joseph leaves Boston in his van,
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 515
headed for North Carolina–after handing over their house to
the next renters. On the way, following Sandy’s instructions,
he stops in Hendersonville, North Carolina, for about a
week to check out some real estate. With real estate agents
that Sandy Pukel and/or Edmund Benson had found, Joseph
looks at property the agents thought might be appropriate for
the miso company in the Asheville area and in Rutherford
County. As far as he knows, Joseph was the fi rst person to
actively look for land for the miso company. They found
several properties that Joseph considered borderline, so
Sandy (and probably John Belleme and Edmund) fl ew up
from Florida and they all visited these sites together. Finding
nothing that was suitable, they left. Joseph continued on
to Florida in his van to be with Patricia and their children.
Sandy continued to work with local realtors until he found
a suitable piece of property. Joseph is quite sure that just
before they fi nally purchased the land in Rutherfordton,
Sandy, Michio and he (and perhaps a few other people)
all went to see the property at the same time. They walked
over the roughly 100 acres of land and through the beautiful
house.
During the summer of 1979 Joseph and Patricia met
with Sandy and Edmund several times to discuss their living
on the miso company land while John and Jan Belleme were
away studying miso-making in Japan. Though nothing was
put into writing, Joseph and Patricia both recall clearly that
their daily expenses would be taken care of, they would
work on the land, and, at the end, they would own a part of
this new business. They were not given any specifi c list of
tasks or duties they were expected to accomplish. Continued.
Address: 10655 Lakeshore Dr., Clear Lake, California
95422. Phone: 707-994-3218.
1672. Chang, Chen-Tien; Fan, M.H.; Kuo, F.C.; Sung, H.Y.
2000. Potent fi brinolytic enzyme from a mutant of Bacillus
subtilis IMR-NK1. J. of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
48(8):3210-16. Aug. [34 ref]
• Summary: This mutant natto bacterium is used to make
domestic natto in Taiwan. A strong fi brinolytic enzyme was
purifi ed from the culture media. The enzyme, which had an
optimal pH of 7.8, an optimal temperature of 55 degrees C.,
showed activity for hydrolysis of fi brinogen. Various tests
indicate that the enzyme is a subtilisin-like serine protease,
similar to nattokinase from Bacillus natto. Address: Dep. of
Food and Nutrition, Providence University, Shalu, Taiwan,
Republic of China.
1673. Kiers, J.L.; Van Laeken, A.E.A.; Rombouts, F.M.;
Nout, M.J.R. 2000. In vitro digestibility of Bacillus
fermented soya bean. International J. of Food Microbiology
60:163-69. Sept. 25. [10 ref]
Address: Wageningen Univ., Agrotechnology and Food
Science, Lab. of Food Microbiology, Bomenweg 2, 6700 EV,
The Netherlands.