To Bean or Natto Bean, That Is the Question

Natto…people love it or they hate it. Making natto is a good way to preserve soybeans, add nutritional content, create a value-added product, and produce a distinctive flavor and texture that some swear by…and others swear about.

Participants at the recent natto workshop at the Pearl City Urban Garden Center were decidedly of the former camp, eagerly tasting different preparations of the sometimes-slithery fermented soybean condiment and learning how to make it themselves.

The workshop first discussed CTAHR’s soybean variety trial, which is assessing which soybean cultivars succeed best under the Islands’ various growing conditions. Then FSHN alumna Dr. Lauren Tamamoto of the KCC Culinary Innovation Center taught the participants about vegetable fermentation science and led them in hands-on natto preparation, finishing up with some tasty samples, including black bean natto.