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

fermentation, natural regeneration [of the trees] (p. 44-
78). 6. Soybeans (p. 79-82). 7. Results and discussion. 8.
Conclusion. 9. Literature citations. 10. Appendix.
“In 1757, Michel Adanson fi rst recorded Parkia
biglobosa during his collecting trips to Senegal and Gambia.
Although Adanson did not name the tree, in 1763 Nicolaus
Jacquin formally published the valid binomial name Mimosa
biglobosa.” In 1826 Robert Brown suggested renaming
the genus Parkia to commemorate Mungo Park, a Scottish
surgeon who explored western Africa in the 1790s, following
the course of the Niger River (p. 44). Parkia biglobosa is
a leguminous tree. A photo (p. 45) shows the tree. Bats are
the primary pollinators of this tree. “The fruit or seedpod
is the most widely used and economically important part
of the tree... In Feb. or March the pods, when green, fl eshy,
and pliable are sometimes eaten by humans after roasting
the pods over embers” (p. 48, 52). Baboons, chimpanzees
and other primates also feast on the immature pods–thus
competing with humans.
A map (p. 52) shows the distribution of Parkia
biglobosa trees in Africa (adapted from Hall et al. 1997); it is
found in 19 African countries.
“In March and April, the beginning of ‘hunger season’
when other foods are becoming scarce, mature pods are
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 531
collected for food. The seeds are used in preparation of
dawadawa, a protein and fat rich food.
This tree has many important medical uses. “The name
of the tree and the food product, dawadawa is from Hausa,
the lingua franca of West Africa spoken by over” 50 million
people in western Africa. Hausa borrowed many words
from Arabic, and these greatly infl uenced its vocabulary. In
Swahili, also a language of Arabic origin, dawa refers to any
medicament supplied by a doctor. A decoction of the seeds,
pounded with salt and fermented is used to treat tension,
mouth ulcers, skin infections, and wasp or bee stings.
The process of making dawadawa from locust bean
seeds in Kandiga, Ghana, is described (p. 58-65) and a fl ow
chart appears on p. 63. “A more recent processing method is
to add fermented soybeans as a fi ller, increasing the volume,
diluting but not losing the preferred taste of the traditional
dawadawa” (p. 64).
“The process of producing soybean dawadawa is similar
with only one critical and major difference. The fi rst major
step of boiling the seeds of P. biglobosa for fourteen hours
is changed to only one hour of boiling of the soybeans.
The composition of P. biglobosa seed is 30% testa [seed
coat] and 70% cotyledons (Campbell-Platt 1980) compared
to soybean which is10% testa and 90% cotyledons (Wolf