Natto experiment - think it's OK, but it's soggy (edited)

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Natto experiment - think it's OK, but it's soggy (edited)

Postby WF Newbie on Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:42 pm

(Note: edit(s) are at the end of this thread.)

I used the following ingredients:

Wild black rice
Adzuki beans
Mung beans
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
Black beans

I soaked, drained, then sprouted all of the above. After sprouting, I put everything in to a slow cooker, and cooked them for 9.5 hours. Also, I read somewhere that a sweet potato can help with fermenting natto. Is this true? I'm sorry that I can't be more precise. I didn't pay any attention to the article, and simply decided to go ahead and use one, and hope for the best. So, alongside the above ingredients, I put one whole unskinned sweet potato in to the slow cooker.

After 9.5 hours had elasped, everything seemed cooked, including the sweet potato. I used a store bought natto packet for the starter culture. Before applying it to the above cooked ingredients, I added hot water to it, and also mixed in a couple of probiotic capsules called Prescript Assist. (Contains Bacillus subtilis.)

I put the drained cooked beans in to two shallow dishes, and also put one third of the sweet potato in to each dish. I mixed everything up well, including putting one tablespoon of my mixed up starter culture in to each dish. I then put the dishes in to a proofer device for 23.5 hours, at a temperature of 38C.

After 23.5 hours, I checked the dishes - please see the photo below. To my untrained/newbie natto eye, it looks fine.

natto 1a.JPG
natto 1a.JPG (240.27 KiB) Viewed 3410 times

However, the potential problem might be when I stirred the fermented food, because I could immediately see that the food looked soggy. Please see the photo below.

natto 2b.JPG
natto 2b.JPG (255.24 KiB) Viewed 3410 times

Perhaps the sogginess was caused by the sweet potato? Perhaps I used too much? Perhaps I didn't need to use it at all? Perhaps it won't matter anyway, because before stirring, it looked "nicely fermented", with that fermented "glazed" look.

However, when I stirred the food and saw the sogginess, I couldn't see much stringiness. However, it's possible that the stringiness has been "hidden" by the sogginess? The only thing that concerns me is that I really hope it contains "stringy nutritious goodness". If I can't see the stringiness, because it has been hidden by the sogginess, then I really don't care. However, if the stringiness really isn't there at all, then I will be really disappointed.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot! Please note as this experiment has only just been done, I have put the fermented food in to jars, and in to the fridge. I haven't tasted it yet. It certainly doesn't smell bad. I'll taste test it in a couple of days time, and report back..

EDIT #1 - I just tasted it, and wow, the "sauce" tastes great! It tastes of coffee/caramel. I reckon most of the sauce is simply the sweet potato. Although it seems to have messed up the characteristic stringiness, I really don't think it's negatively affected the fermentation process, because it really tastes like the store bought natto. However, not all is well, because the beans themselves are very surprisingly hard. I think this must be due to the way in which I cooked them: sprouting them first, and then slow cooking them. I think this hardens the beans. However, I put them in a blender, and whizzed them up, and added them to other food that I am eating, and it seems just fine - both in terms of taste and texture.
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Re: Natto experiment - think it's OK, but it's soggy (edited

Postby MartinKrpan on Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:00 am

Very interesting experiments, thanks for keeping us posted.

Do have a question, though. Why do you insist on using those probiotic pills or whatever they are. I don't think it does that much good with natto. Maybe with lactic fermentation, so that you jump-start it with a larger range of beneficial acteria, but with natto, where you have just 1 strain, I don't think it does that much good. Could be even that bacillus natto has to compete with other bacteria. That's just my line of reasoning.

Secondly, why did you add water to the beans? As far as I know, there is no need for more water, as the beans contain plenty of it. I'd say that also contributed to the runniness.

Thirdly, you could be right about sprouting the beans making them harder, I had similar experience when I sprouted them for tempeh. What was your reasoning behind it anyway? Seeing that bacillus natto already breaks down the nutrients in the beans I see no need for sprouting.

As said, this is just my line of reasoning, I have no academic background to support it, or enough exp making natto. Hope you continue your venture into funky ferments, you never know what kinda of a gem you might stumble upon. Do keep us posted, please.
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Re: Natto experiment - think it's OK, but it's soggy (edited

Postby WF Newbie on Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:09 pm

I'm really sorry that I haven't replied sooner. Unfortunately, I don't get notified if a reply has been made to my posts.

1. You are right about the probiotic capsules. They almost certainly did nothing at all to the ferment. In future, I won't be using them.

2. I added a little hot water to the natto beans starter culture just to help me get them out of the packet that they were in! :)

3. I sprouted the beans, in the hope that they would offer me more nutrition. But I see your reasoning/logic, and yes you are right again, there's almost certainly no need to sprout them, because of what happens during natto fermentation.

Thanks a lot for your input! Please note that the Wild Fermentation page on Facebook is very active...
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