alkaline (from the breakdown of amino acids
into ammonia) and for developing a sticky,
slippery slime that can be drawn with the tip
of a chopstick into threads up to 3 ft/1 m long!
As with tempeh, no salt is used and the
product is perishable. The whole beans are
cooked, inoculated with a culture of the
bacterium Bacillus subtilis natto, and held at
about 100ºF/40ºC for 20 hours. Some bacterial
enzymes break down proteins into amino
acids and oligosaccharides into simple sugars,
while others produce a range of aroma
compounds (buttery diacetyl, various volatile
acids, nutty pyrazines), as well as long chains
of glutamic acid and long branched chains of
sucrose, which form the slimy strings. Natto
is served atop rice or noodles, in salads and
soups, or cooked with vegetables.
Some Traditional Fermented Soybean
Preparations