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

its potential value as a therapeutic agent and the need for
additional studies and clinical trials.” Address: Dep. of
Physiology and Biophysics, Keck School of Medicine, Univ.
of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033.
1828. Kendall, Charles. 2006. Making natto in America
(Interview). SoyaScan Notes. Aug. 7. Conducted by William
Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Charles fi rst made and sold natto in the fall
of 1978. He didn’t make that much in the early years. He
no longer has the original labels but he thinks they were
rectangular. The next label was circular.
His main business now is making and selling natto–
mostly via UPS. Most of his customers are Japanese-
Americans, who love his natto and are very loyal. He just
stopped making amazake (he almost never drank it himself)
and is selling his last cases–largely because he has so much
demand for natto. Also amazake and its bottles take a lot of
room and a lot of equipment.
Discusses how to make the best quality natto. He has
always tried to make the best quality of each food. Of course
he starts with organically grown ingredients–soybeans in the
case of natto. He does not use any variety of “small seeded
soybeans,” but rather uses the cut of small soybeans that
result from screening. His natto soybeans are 5.5 to 6.0 mm
in size. Some soybean varieties have average seed weights
that are smaller than others, yet they still produce many
individual soybeans that are too large for natto and must be
screened out and used for other purposes. As soon as his
natto has fi nished its basic fermentation, he refrigerates it to
35ºF and ships it out. Natto is best 3-4 days after the end of
its incubation, when it should be refrigerated. It gets stickier
and better. It should never be eaten right away, but it will
keep refrigerated for 20-30 days.
He and his wife Yoko (Aveline Kushi’s sister) live in
eastern Massachusetts, out in the country. His business
is very small; he has the capacity to make 650 containers
of natto/day, each weighing 5 ounces. People in the New
England area eat much more soybeans during the winter than
during the summer–when it is hot, humid, and muggy. He
makes natto and mochi, mostly during the cold half of the
year, which is when the demand is greatest. He plans to take
about 1½ months in the summer to do other things–and to
not make foods then. He enjoys making foods, but not all the
time. He and his wife are nearing retirement; she is near 70.
His two main hobbies are playing golf and gardening.
He and his wife traveled to Mito, Japan, last year and
visited a natto maker who still wraps and ferments his natto
in straw. He has a machine that does the wrapping and
binding. They have to steam the straw fi rst to kill all the
undesirable bacteria; the natto bacteria survive the steaming.
Humidifi cation is also important. They learned the history of
natto there, but nothing new about making natto. Address:
Owner, Kendall Food Co., 448 Huntington Rd., Worthington,
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 558
Massachusetts 01098-9550. Phone: 413-238-5928.
1829. Kamimura, Yasuko. 2006. Nattô no reshipi 93:
nebaneba pawaa de karada bijin [Ninety-three natto recipes:
The sticky power way to a beautiful body]. Tokyo: Nitto
Shoin Honsha. 127 p. Illust. (color). 21 cm. [Jap]*
1830. Lee, Joseph. 2006. The sky burns red. Los Angeles,
California: Published by the author. 331 p. www.
theskyburnsred.com.
• Summary: This is a work of fi ction. Page 128: “The deal
smelled as bad a ‘Nattoh,’ Japanese fermented soybean paste
[sic, fermented soybeans] that his friends had made him eat
as a dare. He fi nally ate it, but had to guzzle two bottles of
Asahi Super Dry to clear his mouth of the aftertaste.”
Page 330: Japanese words and their translation: “Nattoh:
Fermented soy beans.”
On the rear cover is a portrait photo of the author and a
brief biography.
Note: This is the earliest English-language document
seen (Dec. 2011) that uses the word “nattoh” to refer to natto.
Address: International business consultant, Los Angeles,
California.
1831. McNatt, Linda. 2006. Japanese demand for natto beans
gives Virginia farm all the business it can handle. Non-GMO
Report (The) (Fairfi eld, Iowa) 6(8):3-4. Aug.
• Summary: From the Virginian-Pilot. Natto is fermented
whole soybeans that “smell slightly rotten and taste like
strong cheese.” Natto soybeans are grown by Bill Taliafero
and his brothers at Montague Farms, Inc. in Essex County,
Virginia. The company shipped more than 10,000 tons of
the natto beans last year. “Researchers at Virginia Tech
have developed a new variety of the natto bean that grows
particularly well in the mid-Atlantic region from Maryland to
North Carolina. They call it the Vanatto.” Natto soybeans are
smaller than typical soybeans and are bright golden in color.
Farmers get $2.25 a bushel more for the food-grade natto
beans than for regular soybeans used for oil and animal feed.
1832. Inatsu, Y.; Nakamura, N.; Yuriko, Y.; Fushimi, T.;
Watanasiritum, L.; Kawamoto, S. 2006. Characterization of
Bacillus subtilis strains in Thua nao, a traditional fermented
soybean food in northern Thailand. Letters in Applied
Microbiology 43(3):237-42. Sept.
• Summary: The purpose of this research was to determine
the diversity of Bacillus subtilis strains in Thua nao that
produce high concentrations of products useful in food
manufacturing and in health-promoting compounds.
“Production of amylase, protease, subtilisin NAT
(nattokinase), and gamma-polyglutamic acid (PGA) by
the Bacillus subtilis strains in Thua nao was measured...
Molecular diversity of isolated strains was analysed via
randomly amplifi ed polymorphic DNA-PCR fi ngerprinting.