Whoops

9 PM, 10 FEB 14: Kept the pound of soybeans in 3 times the water out to soak about 19 hours.

4 PM, 11 FEB 14: Cooked the soybeans in a pressure cooker with minimal water, to steam cook for 2 hours vice the 9 hours recommended in a pot of water. Boiled utensils and jars. Microwaved bowls full of water, covered with plates for 'sterile' working surfaces.

6 PM, 11 FEB 14: Mixed .1 gram of Bacillus subtilis powder in about 2 tsp of boiled water. Moved beans into 'sterile' bowl with 'sterile' spoon, mixed in Bacillus subtilis mixture until all were reasonably mixed. Filled two jars with cultured soybeans, and closed them with the lid.

This is where I think I made a mistake:

While Bacillus subtilis is purported to have anaerobic respiration and true fermentation capabilities, the directions called for using a sterile cheesecloth on the lid of the jar before placing a tight-fitting lid.

Thinking the Bacillus subtilis vendor who created these sterile directions was taking sterility a little too far by having a sterile covering under the sterile lid in an attempt to absolve themselves of any responsibility should someone grow something other than Natto in these cultures, I thought nothing about how B. subtilis may need some oxygen to properly perform this near fermentation; I just blithely assumed this was a true fermentation and tightly closed the 'sterile' lids on the jars and plopped them in a temperature-control-switched crockpot full of water at 100 F.

I looked at them this morning and this afternoon and saw no evidence of the fuzzy or stringiness mentioned in other people's websites and so looked carefully at other recipes to find they do need to breathe. So:

1 PM, 12 FEB 14: Unscrewed jar lids a turn to allow air into jars.

While I don't have sterile cheesecloth underneath, I'm not worried as a very reputable website (one written with such delightfully incorrect grammar and impish stylization that one can't help but imagine it was created by a kindly Japanese woman) did not even mention using sterile or boiled tools in the process, nor any sort of cheesecloth, but mere poked holes in the lid! Domo arygato, mysterious maiden!

So, maybe this will be a bold new discovery of a superior Natto making technique, whereby forcing the B. subtilis to scavenge in a nearly anaerobic environment, they are imbibed with special fermenting powers, that, once exposed to the winds of change from the outside world makes them turn into an unstoppable force of Natto ninja, liberating vitamins and minerals from the cowardly clutches of the cellulose samurai!


I only hope the battle's over when its time for me to eat it.