Natto From Scratch

My mom gave me a yogurt maker and while I don’t particularly like or eat much yogurt, I do like and eat a lot of natto. Slippery, slimy, and pungent, it’s one of my (and my children’s) favorite things to pour over a bowl of steaming hot rice. I kept endeavoring to make it myself, but for some reason it always didn’t turn out right—either the texture or the flavor would be wrong, too… undercooked? And not enough flavor or strings.

Ultimately I found out that the recipes I were following online that were making them overnight did not actually ferment them enough. I still don’t know how they are making theirs and at this point I’ve all but given up on perfect overnight natto.

However, if you have some time and some jars, natto in the yogurt maker where the initial fermentation is done and then finished over a week in the fridge works too. I was inspired by a Japanese movie where they rolled it in straw mats and actually buried them in the snow during winter and came back a few weeks later to perfect natto, so turns out you can ferment them in cold temperatures too.

I ended up leaving a jar in the fridge for too long (about 5 weeks) and now the flavor is like douchi so I’m in the process of drying them for traditional dried douchi. It’s one of my dad’s favorite things that reminds him of his hometown in Szechuan (where everyone has a cave where they ferment their own) so I’ll have a recipe for that coming in a few days!

Cleanliness is important so you don’t spoil it with other types of bacteria so make sure all your utensils are sterilized before use.

If you’re looking for ways to use natto, you can check out my posts on Natto with Shiso and Natto Mochi for inspiration.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried yellow soybeans
• Water for soaking and boiling
• Natto culture or tablespoon of premade natto
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Yogurt maker and jars

1. Soak the beans in water overnight and either boil until very tender, or pressure cook for about 40 minutes. Drain but reserve about one teaspoon of the liquid to keep everything moist.
2. Allow to cool to lukewarm temperatures and mix in sugar and the culture.
3. Add to yogurt jars, cover, and allow to ferment in the yogurt maker for about 20-22 hours. If for whatever reason it comes out perfectly this first time around, congratulations! Has never worked for me, but if it doesn’t, put it in the fridge for about a week or two, or until the stringiness appears.
4. You can mix with dashi, soy sauce, karashi mustard, minced umeboshu, minced shiso etc.