Natto food family around the globe (Part III)

Native to the savannas of western and central Africa, the locust bean (néré) tree is a highly prized natural resource. Locust bean seeds produced by these trees are an important, nutrient-rich food source for people from Senegal to Uganda (1). 

African locust bean tree (Parkia biglobosa)

Locust bean pods, containing both edible pulp and seeds, are highly nutritious. The pulp is sweet (carbohydrate-rich) and can be consumed directly from the plant; the seeds are even more valuable, as a concentrated source of protein, fat, calcium and B vitamins but are usually eaten in fermented form (2,3).

Locust bean pods whole and shelled

Locust bean seeds are prepared for consumption by boiling and fermenting (wrapped in leaves providing Bacillus subtilis and other bacterial species) into a popular food known most commonly as dawadawa (in Hausa-based languages of Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire,Togo, Benin & Niger)(5). Like natto, fermented dawadawa has a pungent odor and is used (like Korean doenjang) as a condiment or stew ingredient (5).

Dawadawa stew with goat meat in Nigeria

In other African languages/countries, dawadawa has many alternative names: iru (Yoruba), sambala (Mandig/Burkina Faso), oji (Pulaar), kinda (Sierra Leone) or netetou (Wolof) (4). 

Balls of dawadawa (Burkina Faso) abed unfermented locust bean seeds (4)

What does all this have to do with natto? In many areas, dawadawa is increasingly being made from soybeans. Soybeans are replacing néré seeds in traditional dawadawa because of shortages in locust beans along with mounting cultivation of soybeans in Africa (5,6). Naturally, soy-based preparation of dawadawa results in a food even more similar in composition and microbiology to natto than the traditional locust bean-based version (3,5).

Soy dawadawa preparation in Ghana

How amazing that such diverse and distant cultures discovered independently that fermenting cooked soy (and other legumes) with leaf-borne Bacillus subtilis (and other bacteria) produces a pungently delicious and highly nutritious food!

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Read Part I, Part II & Part III of our Natto food family series.

References: (1) http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/the-locust-bean-an-answer-to-africa’s-greatest-needs-in-one-tree/ (2) Wikipedia [Parkia biglobosa]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkia_biglobosa (3) Ray, R.C. and Montet, D. (2015) Microorganisms and Fermentation of Traditional Foods. CRC Press. (4) Wikipedia [Sumbala]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumbala (5) Tamang, J.P. and Kailasapathy.(2010) Fermented Foods and Beverages of the World. CRC Press. (6) http://foramfera.com/index.php/market-research-reports/item/652-soy-dawadawa-production-from-soya-beans-seed-the-feasibility-report 

Natto food family around the globe (Part II)

When an idea arises independently again and again in different cultures around the world, it may be a good one. In the Himalayas, a region including Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and northern India is home to  traditional unsalted fermented soybean foods resembling natto.

The most widespread natto-like food in the Himalayas is known as kinema, a cultural staple food of non-Brahmin Hindus, Lepchas and Bhutias. Kinema is believed to have originated in eastern Nepal some time during the Kirat (600BC - 100AD) dynasty (1). Kinema is made by wrapping lightly crushed boiled soybeans in local fern leaves inside a bamboo basket (both plant materials providing a source of Bacillus subtilis bacteria) to ferment above a warm oven for 1-3 days (2).

Nepali woman cooking soybeans to make kinema

I was fascinated to learn about kinema and wanted to know how similar it is to natto. So far, I haven't been able to find kinema for sale in New York, so I resorted to second hand testing.

Maya: "kinema=natto"

I asked my friend Maya, who is from Nepal and ate kinema regularly there, to try my natto and tell me how it compares to the kinema she remembers. Right away, she said that it looked and smelled like kinema, but I waited for her to cook and taste it at home. A week later, I was happy to hear that she had enjoyed the natto and that it had been "just same like kinema, same food "!

Nepali Kinema

Unlike natto, kinema is usually fried with salt, chilies, onion and tomato before eating with rice (2).  Most likely, the tradition of frying kinema in oil before consumption evolved as a safety precaution in a culture/time that lacked refrigeration.

In culturally/linguistically diverse India, variations of kinema are known by many different regional names (hawaijar in Manipur, tungrymbai in Meghalaya, bekang in Mizoram, aakhone in Nagaland, and peruyaan in Arunachal Pradesh). Many of these are made into curries or fried like kinema, but in some regions they are also commonly eaten uncooked as a side dish with rice like natto (1,3).

Indian hawaijar fermented in leaf

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Read Part I, Part II & Part III of our Natto food family series.

References: (1) Tamang, J.P. and Kailasapathy, K. (2010) Fermented Foods and Beverages of the World. CRC Press. (2) Sarkar, P.K. et al. (1994) Kinema -a traditional soybean fermented food: proximate composition and microflora. Food Microbiology.11:47-55. (3) Ray, R.C. and Montet, D. (2015) Microorganisms and Fermentation of Traditional Foods. CRC Press.

Natto food family around the globe (Part I)

I recently learned that although natto is most popular in Japan, it is fairly well known and appreciated in many other countries in Asia such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore (3).

A number of other Asian cultures also turn out to have developed unique traditional foods made from Bacillus-fermented soybeans, similar to natto. For example, Koreans have a fermented soy food called "doenjang*" which is historically made by grinding boiled soybeans into a paste that is then shaped into blocks (called meju), wrapped in dry rice leaves (supplying natural Bacillus subtilis bacteria), hung outdoors and later put into ceramic urns to ferment for a few months (1,2).

* Alternative Korean names: chungkokjang, jeonkukjang, cheonggukjang (1)

Korean doenjang meju hanging during fermentation

Similar to Japanese miso*, matured "doenjang" paste is used as a base to make a soup into which tofu and vegetables are added. This soup/stew, called "doenjang jigae" is a Korean favorite comfort food-- "healthy, stinky but very delicious", I was told (3).  I had to find some.

* Doenjang paste resembles miso in its usage as a condiment/soup base; however, miso is made by a very different fermentation process involving salting and utilizing a fungus/mold (Aspergillus oryzae) instead of Bacillus bacteria.

Doenjang jigae

Upon recommendation (3), I went to BCD Tofu House in Koreatown to try doenjang jigae. The restaurant was packed, mostly with Koreans, a positive sign that the food would be authentically good. The waitress tried to gently steer me away from ordering the dish, but I assured her that I knew it was "smelly" and had come to the restaurant specifically to have it. A few moments later, the doenjang jigae arrived bubbling hot and, as promised, emitting a vaguely pungent, fermented aroma. I actually found the smell to be quite mild and pleasant, definitely similar to natto. It was absolutely delicious; I finished every last drop. 

Hmmm. Possibly a new project for NYrture to work on in the future?

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Read Part I, Part II & Part III of our Natto food family series.

References: (1) Wikipedia [doenjang]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doenjang (2) Tamang, J.P. and Kailasapathy, K. (2010) Fermented Foods and Beverages of the World. CRC Press. (3) personal communication from the great gals of Kopi Coffee (www.kopinyc.com) and VodkaCleanse (www.vodkacleanse.com) at OFI.

Natto grows in New York (Birth of NYrture New York Natto. Part V)

Not that long ago, in a place far, far away from Japan I began making natto at home in New York. Observing a number of natto masters perform their craft certainly did not mean that I was immediately able to do it well myself. Over the course of several months, I experimented with many kinds of soybeans -- GMO-free, organic, black, big and small varietals.  I tried out different methods and durations of cooking the beans. Most critically, I discovered through trial and error how best to nurture the probiotic Bacillus subtilis bacteria during the key step of fermenting the soybeans, transforming them into natto.

Freshly fermented natto looking good and sticky!

Eventually, I found the best ingredients and learned how to make some (damn) good natto, which I was happy to share with family and friends. I then realized I wanted to share it with more people in New York -- those already familiar with natto as well as adventurous eaters interested in trying a new, exotic, nutritious and probiotic food. Briefly, that is how New York Natto was born. 

Hunter's Point, Long Island City may not strike you as a likely place to find natto.  But in this rather bleakly industrial part of town, I found a wonderfully vibrant and progressive community of small food producers at the cooperative commercial kitchen space, Organic Food Incubator. Here, NYrture was pleased to find a happy home in which to nurture New York Natto. 

The Organic Food Incubator (OFI) provides affordable, production-certified kitchen space to select local food start-ups and is host to a diverse array of young companies making everything from gluten-free bread, vegan ice cream, raw vegetable noodles and all-natural gum to cold brew coffee, chai and artisanal bitters. The list goes on and on, and every one of the many things I've had the pleasure of tasting at OFI has been fantastic. All food is made by hard-working hands here.

With Mike Schwartz at OFI

Lucky for me, OFI founder Mike Schwartz also owns Bad Ass Organics (www.baofoodanddrink.com) which produces a variety of lacto-fermented probiotic food products including kombucha, kimchee and hot sauces there, so they already have a warm fermentation room where good microbes are more than welcome. "Just being here at OFI is probiotic", says Mike.

At the OFI kitchen space with some of their amazing staff : James, Butch, Brooks, Daniel

Many heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people at OFI for welcoming NYrture into their family and for all their support, assistance and advice!

Ibaraki Marche (Birth of NYrture New York Natto. Part IV)

Having had a natto epiphany in finding so many premium nattos in Tokyo depachikas, I was even more thrilled to find out about the existence of natto specialty stores. The most impressive selection of nattos I encountered was at Ibaraki Marche.

Ibaraki prefecture is a region of mainland Japan just northeast of Tokyo, famous for producing natto. Many great natto producers are located in Ibaraki, and its central city Mito hosts a popular annual natto speed-eating contest. Ibaraki Marche is a specialty food shop in the Ginza district of Tokyo that sells artisanal food products from the Ibaraki area, including dozens of varieties of excellent natto.

An entire market shelf was dedicated to regional natto varieties, displaying great diversity in product and packaging.

Some nattos were presented very traditionally--wrapped in bundles of straw (seen on the top shelf here). This is how natto was first made and stored, inside boat-shaped sheaths of rice straw, a natural source of  the grass/soil-dwelling bacteria that ferment natto. Like most traditional fermented foods around the world, natto is said to have been discovered by happy accident. The legend of natto is this...

Around 1000 AD, a great samurai and scholar named Hachiman-taro Yoshie and his legion of warriors were poised to conquer the northern part of mainland Japan. One evening, after soybeans and other foods had been cooked for dinner, they discovered an opposing army was approaching and had to mobilize in haste. The samurai's cook quickly wrapped the soybeans in available straw and tied them to a horse's back.  Later, having successfully evaded the attackers, the cook unpacked the soybeans to find them fermented.  The straw had provided a natural source of Bacillus subtilis bacteria, which grew in the warmth and moisture from the body heat and sweat of the horse running through the night. The cook tasted the fermented beans and found them to be delicious (1).  Natto rapidly spread as a culinary tradition throughout northeastern Japan and beyond.

Natto wrapped traditionally in rice straw, having survived a trans-Pacific flight and avoided TSA, wonderfully fragrant of earth and grass.

Although straw packaging is not legally possible in America, this prompted me to think about packaging alternatives to the unattractive and unrecyclable styrofoam containers in which all available natto is found here. I loved the straw, bark or paper packages I saw in Japan, but realized these were not viable possibilities due to cost and/or food safety restrictions. Instead, we chose to offer our natto in simple glass jars which can be recycled or repurposed.

Reference: (1) History of Natto and Its Relatives. http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/natto1.php