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

Note 2. This is the earliest U.S. document seen (Dec.
2008) that mentions smoked tofu.
The section on peanuts (p. 158-62) includes roasted
peanuts, peanut butter, peanut taffy, and “Terralac or peanutmilk
(here fi rst published).” Details on how to make peanutmilk
at home are given, followed by many recipes for its
use–each preceded by the word “Terralac.” Thus: Terralac
custards, Terralac punch. Terralac cream, salad dressing,
sauce, cream sauce, creams, blanc-mange [blancmange],
cream pie, Bavarian cheese, Terralac in soup, “Ice-Terralac,
or peanut ice-cream,” peanut soup, salted peanuts.
There are also sections on the cowpea (p. 163+),
almonds (p. 263-65; incl. salted almonds, marchpane,
macaroons, nougat or almond cake, almond milk, orgeat
syrup, burnt almonds, replacing almonds), vegetable-gelatine
(p. 384-87, incl. carrageen or carragheen [carrageenan], Irish
moss, and kanten), sesame oil or gingelly oil (p. 388), peanut
oil or groundnut oil (p. 388), almond oil (p. 389), and sago
and sago recipes (p. 390-91, incl. three sago puddings).
Note: Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1998)
defi nes orgeat (a word fi rst used in 1754) as “a sweet
almond-fl avored nonalcoholic syrup used as a cocktail
ingredient or food fl avoring.”
136. Howell, E.V. 1918. Soy beans and soy bean oil. J. of the
American Pharmaceutical Association 7(2):159-63. Feb. [14
ref]
• Summary: “This bean is a native of southeastern Asia.
It is at present the most important legume grown in China
and Japan, where it is grown almost exclusively for human
food. It has been cultivated from a remote period, each
district having its own distinct variety, some two hundred
kinds in all... The bean was introduced into England in
1790. Apparently the fi rst mention of soy beans in American
literature was in the New England Farmer, October 23, 1829,
in an article by Thomas Nuttall.” There follows a summary
of this article and several other early U.S. documents that
mention the soy bean.
“Importance: I think the soy bean is the most important
plant introduced into the South within a hundred years. This
opinion is based on the range of the plant, the value as a
soil improver, and the numerous uses of the seed and oil,
together with the fact that the present cottonseed oil mills
can produce the oil with practically no change in machinery
and thus double their mill season. The beans can be stored,
as they are practically immune to insects. Especial emphasis
is placed on this statement in the present demand for food on
account of the war. In Japan the bean forms one of the most
important articles of food, by nature a meat, to go with the
starch of rice. The Chinese make from the beans a cheese
resembling our own cheese, while the Japanese make the
well-known sauce for rice or fi sh, soy or suey sauce. It is
one of the principal ingredients in ‘Tofu’ (bean curd), natto
(steamed beans), and white and brown miso, which is like
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2012
HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 82
our molasses brown bread.”
“A factory for the production of this [soy] milk has
recently been established in America. This can be used
in cooking, by bakers, confectioners, and chocolate
manufacturers. I have before me the following food articles
in which soy bean meal is the principal ingredient: Egg
substitute No. 1, egg substitute No. 2, colored cocoanuts,
coffee substitute, cocoa substitute, roasted malted nuts,
coloring curry powder, cutlet powder, soy and navy beans
with pork, the equal of any pork and beans.
“The use of the soy meal for soups, for proportional
use in muffi ns, cookies, fritters, croquettes, biscuit, and loaf
bread is unlimited. Its use is checked only by our prejudice
for certain customary fl avors, just as northern people and
Europeans do not use corn meal. In other words, North
Carolina, if forced to by war conditions, could largely exist
on the soy beans crushed in the State this year, including
the imported and native beans crushed, the oil from which I
estimate to yield this year 400,000 gallons. This oil can be
used for frying, and for a salad oil in French dressing or in
mayonnaise. I fried a partridge in the crude unrefi ned oil, and
found it delicious.
“While the chief use, so far, of the oil has been for
soaps and paints, the particular object of this paper has
been to call attention to the use of soy oil in pharmaceutical
preparations.”
Tables show: (1) The specifi c gravity, saponifi cation
value, and iodine for three samples of Manchurian soy oil
purchased in New York. (2) The chemical composition of soy
bean meal (8.77% fat), compared with the meal of fi ve other
seeds (including cottonseed, linseed {old and new process},
decorticated peanut, and sunfl ower seed). (3) Four chemical
constants of seven samples of domestic and imported soy
oils (from L.P. Nemzek). (4) The food values (nutritional
composition) of soy beans and six other foods, including lean
beef, milk, and eggs.
Because of World War I: “During the past six or
seven months there has been produced in this country in
the neighborhood of one hundred thousand gallons of soy
oil. The largest part of this quantity has been produced in
North Carolina by the Elizabeth City Oil & Fertilizer Co.,
Winterville Cotton Oil Co., and the New Bern Cotton Oil &
Fertilizer Mills. Samples from the different crushings have
been examined in comparison with the imported oil.”
“Medicinal use: In England a diabetic biscuit is
manufactured. In this country an infant’s food from the
soy bean is on the market. The enzyme in the bean is also
attracting attention and opening a fi eld for investigation.”
Note 1. This paper was presented at the Scientifi c
Section, American Pharmaceutical Assoc., Indianapolis
meeting, 1917.
Note 2. This is the earliest English-language document
seen (Oct. 2008) that contains the word “crushings.”