Japanese Natto Starter Spores (Nattomoto) - 3g (enough to make 30kg of natto). 100% Organic Soybean Extract. 100% Product of Japan

Some of the bad reviews of this made me wonder, but I have had great results with these spores. I buy small soybeans labeled as “soybeans for sprouting” at Hmart, and use my Instant Pot for soaking, cooking, and fermenting my natto. First I put 2 cups of soybeans in the inner pot of my Instant Pot, add enough water to cover by several inches, and cover with the glass lid. I let them soak for about 24 hours (or until the top of the soaking water looks bubbly). Then I drain the beans into a steamer basket and put this in my pot along with a couple of cups of water. I cover this with the pressure cooker lid (remembering to close the valve) and set it to the following: Pressure Cook / High Pressure / Normal / 40 minutes and I turn off the Keep Warm function. (I have the 8 quart Instant Pot Duo, some of the buttons and settings may run a little different on other versions.) Once this is done, I let the pressure release naturally, which takes about 22 minutes. While the pressure is releasing, I fill my electric steam kettle with water and bring this to a boil. Into a large stainless steel bowl or half-gallon mason jar I throw the following items: 1/8 and 1/4 tsp , and 1 tbsp measuring spoons, steaming cloth or cheesecloth, and a spoon large enough to mix the beans. Over these I pour the boiling water to sterilize, leaving it for 5-10 minutes and then draining. Once the pressure has come down, I remove the steamer basket with my beans and place this on the counter. I pour out all but 2 tbsp of the liquid from my Instant Pot. To this I add 1 itty-bitty spoonful of the natto spores (using the little spoon included with them), 1/4 tsp brown sugar, and 1/8 tsp salt. I mix these together using the spoon I sterilized, then dump the beans in on top of this and thoroughly mix everything. I line the now empty steamer basket with a steaming cloth or cheesecloth, spoon the beans on top of this, and then fold the remaining cloth over the top to cover the beans. I give a quick rinse to the inner pot of my Instant Pot and put the steamer basket back inside. This then goes back into my Instant Pot, which I cover with a glass lid and set to Yogurt - Normal - 24 hours. I find that my natto is fully and reliably fermented at this setting after 24 hours. I then pull the steamer basket out of the pot and set in on the counter until the beans are cool. This takes several hours. Then into the fridge they go. They seem ready to eat the next morning, although traditional recipes say to let them cure in the fridge for 3-5 days before eating. I’m honestly not sure what difference it makes. How long do they keep once refrigerated? I’ve never had them go bad, although I suppose that’s possible. Some people say they become gritty or grainy if you keep them too long, although I haven’t seen that. I aim to eat these daily, but sometimes I forget about them and they sit in the fridge. They don’t seem to change much over time once fermented. To eat, I take about 1/2 cup and mix in a spoonful or two of soy sauce.

I was hesitant to use this because I had success making natto from premade frozen natto that I bought from the store and didn't want to take any chances making a bad batch. However, I ran out of frozen natto so I decided to try these spores that had been in the cabinet for a few months. The instructions are not in English, but can be easily found online. I used a similar process to what Emmymade on YouTube does. Of course using the spores instead of premade natto. It was a great success. To me, the natto smelled and tastes stronger than when using premade natto as a starter. The taste was great and the best natto have a tasted to date. I eat it with some jasmine rice an and sweet soy sauce. I will be using these natto spores from now on instead of using frozen natto as my starter. Quick Rundown of how I made my natto. 1. Rinsed and soaked 2 cups of soybeans for about 24 Hours. 2. Drained beans and cooked in insta pot for 25 minutes on the bean setting adding water to one inch above beans first. I let the unit depressurize on its own after the cook. 3. Sterilized a strainer, glass bowl, small measuring cup, two larger spoons, tongs and thermometer with boiling water from tea kettle. 4. Drained beans and let cool to at least 115º. Set aside about 3 tablespoons of this 'bean water' in the sterilized measuring cup 5. Put cooked beans into glass bowl that can fit in insta pot. Added about 1 of the little spoons of nattomato to beans and stirred in some of set aside water as needed. (Next time I will add the spores to this water first and then stir it in together.) There are some instructions that say you can only lay the beans three deep to have success, but mine were placed in a glass bowl that could fit inside the insta pot. The beans were several layers deep. 6. Covered bowl with saran wrap and poked many. many holes in the top. 7. Added about 1/4 cup of water to insta pot and placed steaming rack on the bottom (collapsed so bowl would fit) 8. Used Yogurt setting on Normal. Let ferment for 16 hours. I did stir the natto at 9 hours. I don't know if that was necessary. If you do this make sure your spoon is sterilized. 9. After fermentation put the beans in the fridge for 2 days and then put two portions in zip loc baggies for freezing while keeping out a several day supply in the fridge for daily consumption.

I've been making Netto for 5 years. My Natto always comes out wonderfully thanks to Nattomoto. I believe that one Nattomoto would last at least for a few years. I highly recommend Nattomoto for all Natto lovers who make homemade Natto.

So easy! I used my instapot. Cooked my soybeans, let them cool a bit. I drained MOST, but not quite all of the liquid, and added the product, (about three tiny spoons for a very full pot), and stirred completely. I covered the beans tightly with Saran wrap to keep them moist (and replaced the lid), and set my pot to the yogurt setting for 24 hours. When the time was up, I had PERFECT stringy, nutty, earthy smelling NATTO! There's plenty of inoculent for many more batches too! Better quality than any I've had since living in Hawaii as a kid! Will def purchase again!

I've been making natto for the past several years, mostly with store-bought natto. I really wanted to like this product, but no matter how many times I tried, my natto came out barely slimy, with strong ammonia smell. It does not taste anything like the natto I love. Every time, I adjusted one or more of the following: Temperature Cooking time of soybeans (soft to super soft, even to the point of breaking down into bits) The amount of soybeans/powder/moisture This last time, I used probably five times more powder than actually called for. I saw absolutely no difference in the end product. I've heard that a strain of natto has been developed with no or little sliminess. I don't know if this is it. Natto made with this product starts to give off ammonia smell many hours earlier than when made with natto from a local store. I used more than half of the powder in the tiny plastic bottle, and I was never successful. I'm going back to the local store for frozen natto.

After cooking in an Instant Pot for 40 minutes, I transferred the beans to sterilized Pyrex cake pans and spread them to 1" thick. I put one of those tiny spoonfuls of spoors into two tbs of the liquid from the cook, and distributed it over the beans and stirred well. Those were covered with cling wrap, which I punched holes in with a toothpick. Placed them into an incubator set to 100ºF and left for 24 hours. The results were acceptable. The strands didn't seem as strong as they should be, like it might have needed even more incubation. The flavor was mild but good. This was my first attempt using the spoors. I think the actual Natto does a better job of inoculation, but it can be hard to find, and this will get the job done.

Very happy with this Japanese Natto Starter Spores. It was easy to use and produced authentic, sticky natto with great flavor and texture. I like that a very small amount can make a large batch, so it lasts a long time and is very economical. The instructions were simple enough to follow, and the fermentation worked consistently as long as everything was kept clean and right temperature. Highly recommended for anyone interested in making fresh homemade natto at home.

UPDATE 3-17-19 OK. So I thought I had become an expert at making natto but apparently it was beginners luck. Even the oriental grocery store knows little about natto. When I bought it for the 2nd time the same boxes were sitting in the refrigerator. The expiration date was several months from now. The problem was the date was for keeping the natto frozen and it was being sold as refrigerated. By the time I got my 2nd batch home it was already too spoiled for making natto but I've learned a few tips since then: One thing I learned (I will post links at the end) is that the spores I ordered can tolerate very high temperatures and can even survive being boiled for up to an hour. Though to be safe you should not exceed 175 degrees F. when inoculating. [b]I reasoned that the opposite was true and that the naked spores could be killed instantly[/b] as opposed to being protected by being in the beans. Nothing could be further from the truth and one website went so far as to say the spores should be shocked by inoculating while the natto is steaming hot, much like the way some seeds proliferate after a forest fire. No wonder my natto from spores failed! I was also worried that maybe my natto had failed because of the honey. Honey is sterile and I thought maybe the honey had steralized them. Though neither of the links I am about to post recommend using honey they do recommend using salt for minerals and sugar or molasses to help give the spores a head start in addition to the heat shock treatment. I also read that Bacillus subtilis, the strain of bacteria that produces natto is somewhat essential to the human gut and that it is very rare, only found in a few cheeses and very few other foods. Though most bacteria are killed by stomach acid, Bacillus subtilis spores survive the journey surprisingly well and once introduced proliferate in the small intestine. Having found all this new information regarding making natto I'm going to give these spores another try and not worry about inoculating the beans while they are still hot. I think I may have allowed them to cool to much and introduced to much contamination. If this next batch works I will update my review and add more stars accordingly... [b]Also natto is one of the few fermented foods that is alkaline, a PH of 9.0 and virtually every other fermented food is acid. [/b] For more information kindly read the links below: https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/07/obsessed-ann-yonetani-natto-nyrture.html http://www.tahoescience.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LTFedEvent-2008-natto-making.pdf Thanks for putting up with my natto obsession. surfsteve. Original Review: Till I got these I always used fresh natto as starter and always had great results. I read the reviews and wanted to try these spores. I was really hoping they would work. After 12 hours I went to stir the natto and was surprised to find the spores did absolutely nothing. I thought maybe my beans were a little warm and might have killed the starter, even though they weren't even as hot as when I normally add the fresh natto. So I added even more starter and checked them again after an additional 12 hours and still nothing! Went back to using fresh natto as starter. I really had high hopes for these spores. Was hoping to have some way of making natto when the SHTF, like maybe during a zombie apocalypse or if Trump looses in 2020!