Nattou(fermented soy-beans) is one of many very healthy,nutritious ,
economical foods,which is now receiving much better appreciation.

Tofu (soy-bean cake) and Tonyu (soy-bean milk) are easy to make at home
and became very popular all over the world. When we make them at home,
we will get a lot of solid remainings which are also nutritious.
(We can make by solidifying Tonyu(soy-bean milk) using a small amount
of magnesium chloride.)
Somtimes we will feel somewhat troublesome to cook and eat such a big
amount of eatable remainings.
Nattou is very simple to homebrew using your cooking tools.
If you keep your cooked soy-beans mixed with Nattou-kin at 104deg F
(40deg C) for 24 hours,you can get very nutritious,preservable,fermented
soy-beens. (I am afraid that somebody hates the smell and stickiness of Nattou.)
Nattou had been my favorite food and I hadn't known how to homebrew it,
until my American homebrew friend,Mr.Jim Caldwell,taught me the method
by sending Japanese made Nattou-kin.
I imported one of Japanese basic cultures from the USA and now enjoying
homebewing Nattou for my healthy life together with my own healthy beers.

Following is my simple procedure.

Materials:
Soy-beans,1lb(454g)

Nattou-kin,dry0.01oz(0.3g) or commercial Nattou 0.7oz(20g)

(Nattou-kin is very strong and alive even in a very hot water.
Use of Nattou-kin is much recommendded.)

Equipment:
Steam cooker (Pressure steam cooker is much easier to cook soy-beans).
Basket to drain water.
Stainless steel bowl or tray,(equivalent plastic or glass container is usable)
Big spoon to mix Nattou-kin
Picnic cooler box or equivalent
Big plastic empty bottles (half gal.):4 pieces.

Procedure:
1. Wash and soak the 1lb(454g) of soy-beans for about 24 hours.
During the hot summer, 10 hours will be enough.
2. Steam cook the soy-beans at least 3 hours so that the cooked soy-beans
can be easily crushed by weak finger pressure between thumb and pinky.
3. Cool down the cooked soy-beans 122degF(50degC). Put the soy-beans
into a stainless steel bowl,add 0.01oz(0.3g) of Nattou-kin solved in
0.013gal(50cc) hot water and mix them well.
4. Put the bowl in a picnic cooler box together with 113degF (45degC) warm
5. In 24 hours,you can get fermented soy-been,Nattou.
6. Now you can eat it. If you keep your Nattou in your refrigerator for a week
you can get matured and improved tasty Nattou.

How to eat Nattou:

Take an eatable amount into a small container and stur it so that you can
get strong stickiness. Then further mix small amount of soy-sauce ,mustard
and sliced leeks. If you eat Nattou together with a hot rice,it will be very
tasty.

Of course you can use your Nattou as a material for various type of cookings,
such as omelet,tempura,sushi,sandwich and so on.


How to get Nattou-kin:

G.E.M. Cultures
30301 Sherwood Rd., Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Phone: 707-964-2922
Kushi Institute Store
Toll-Free: 1-800-64-KUSHI (1-800-645-8744)
e-mail: store@macrobiotics.org


Yuzo Takahashi Laboratory
2-1-7 Youka-machi Yamagata-shi
Yamagata-ken , Japan #990
Phone: +81-236-22-4001
Fax: +81-236-22-4002


Naruse Fermentation Laboratory
2-18-7 Nerima Nerima-ku
Tokyo, Japan #176
Phone: +81-3-3994-3939

Written By Mutsuo Hoshido