How to Make Natto, Japanese Superfood
Homemade Natto, traditional Japanese food, is full of nutrients to keep arteries clean, lower blood pressure, improve digestion & strengthen immune system.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs dried organic soybeans
- Filtered water for cooking soybeans
- 1 tablespoon sterilized water boiled for 5-10 mins, then cooled
- 0.1 g Nattomoto powdered culture 1 special spoon that comes in a box
Instructions
- Wash the soybeans and soak for 9 hours in the summer to 12 hours in the winter (I used Instant Pot insert bowl for soaking to wash less dishes).
- Drain soybeans in a medium colander.
- Place the beans back into the pressure cooker bowl, and add filtered water to cover the beans by an inch.
- Use the 'bean' setting on Instant Pot, or cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally when done.
- Discard any extra liquid, if any, using a sieve, and place the soybeans back into the bowl of the pressure cooker.
- Dissolve 1 special spoonful of Nattomoto powder in 1 tablespoon of sterilized water.
- Pour the Nattomoto solution over the beans, and stir them carefully with a spoon.
- Divide the soybean mixture between the containers, cover with sterilized cheese cloth, and cover the containers with lids (I didn't snap my lids, so the beans were not air-tight).
- Place the containers into a preheated oven maintaining the temperature around 100º-104ºF (38º-40ºC). Let the natto ferment for 22-24 hours.
- Remove the natto from oven, and transfer to refrigerator for a night. The next morning, the natto is ready.
Notes
- Try to make sure all your equipment is as clean as possible, keep a teapot of boiling water on hand for rinsing.
- Cultures for Health recommends covering soybeans with cheese cloth but I didn't do it the second time, and didn't notice any difference.
- Dr. Mercola recommends using a cold oven with lights turned on; that might work on if you have an older oven, but newer ones have lights that turn off automatically.
- If you cut the recipe in half, you could probably fit natto into a yogurt maker like this, it has a perfect temperature for natto, just find a round dish to fit inside.