Love Asian cuisine? presenting natto. Although you may not be familiar with this fermented deliciousness, with these advantages for your heart, brain health, and more, well... Perhaps it's time to try natto.
Describe natto
Traditional Japanese dish natto has a history as unusual as its gooey consistency. Natto is a dish prepared of cooked soybeans that are allowed to ferment for roughly 24 hours in a hot, humid setting. Natto is pronounced phonetically with a short A and emphasis on the first syllable. This produces a distinctly pungent culinary staple with excellent health benefits.
The origin of the fermenting process for natto is said to be a Japanese folktale. The story has been told in a few different ways, but one recurring feature suggests that, about a thousand years ago, a famed warrior rode his horse with a straw pouch full of fried soybeans. According to the legend, fermentation was started by the horse's body heat. According to some accounts, natto was first discovered when farmers hastily packed their soybeans to flee during a conflict or when cooked soybeans accumulated beneath kitchen mats.
Regardless of the natto narrative you follow, your experience is probably similar: A gooey, rich, and fragrant meal that gained popularity as a breakfast item offered by street vendors and eventually became a significant component of Japanese traditional medicine. You might concur that this is no surprise once you learn about the health benefits of natto.
Can you make natto at home?
By the 20th century, scientists had discovered the particular bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) that causes the fermentation of natto. Natto starter spores are now packaged by manufacturers so you can ferment your own soybeans at home.
How is natto made? The executive chef at the Japanese restaurant O-Ku in Atlanta is Masatomo "Masa" Hamaya. In order to produce natto, dry soybeans must first be hydrated in water and then steamed, as Chef Masa demonstrates. He instructs, "Add the fermentation starter or add ready-made, store-bought natto into the steamed soybeans while they are still hot." Soybeans should be left in an incubator or bread proofer for 24 hours at 42 degrees Celsius.
Chef Masa claims that the distinctive perfume of natto sets it apart from other soy-based goods and likens the smell of the bean dish to that of a pungent cheese like Taleggio or Epoisses. Natto is also sometimes referred to have an acquired taste, much like the Southeast Asian durian fruit or the stinky tofu from Tawain. "I myself grew up eating natto, so I would eat it as is," Chef Masa explains. However, I would cook [your] favourite bean dish and replace [the beans] with natto for people who are not accustomed to eating it.
Natto's main active component, nattokinase, is an enzyme created during the fermentation of soybeans. A pharmacologist and lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, Yiguang Lin, MD, PhD, participated to nattokinase study that was published in the journal Biomarker Insights. He explains how the public now has easier access to natto's health advantages thanks to the 1981 discovery of nattokinase.
Nattokinase Benefits For Health
Natto consumption is linked to longer lifespans and better heart health in Japanese culture. This observational tendency is supported by scientific evidence, which shows that frequent natto consumption considerably lowers the chance of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Dr. Lin and his team investigated the part that the enzyme nattokinase plays in these favourable health outcomes, however he asserts that much more research is still required. Here are some recommendations based on their Biomarker Insights findings and other studies.
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