“I tried natto once and I hated it.” “It tastes awful, I don’t want to eat it again.” “I’m not sure I want to try it.”

When I started eating natto and posting about it on my IG stories last year, those were just some of the messages I got from friends. The fermented soybeans known as a Japanese breakfast staple is not the easiest taste to acquire. Though I think what turns most people off is its pungent smell and neba-neba (sticky, slimy) texture, both of which can overpower before the taste actually registers. And as far as flavor goes, it’s a bit nutty, a little bitter, and like many other fermented foods, packs an umami punch.  

How is natto made?

Believed to have originated in Japan, natto is made by boiling or steaming soybeans, after which the bacteria Bacillus subtilis is introduced. The boiled soybeans used to be wrapped in rice straw, which would naturally have B. subtilis bacteria. However, after the scientists isolated the bacteria, it could be added to the soybeans through a natto starter to start fermentation. This has to be done while it’s hot, because B. subtilis is heat activated.)

The entire natto fermentation takes around 12 to 24 hours. It needs high humidity, oxygen, and a temperature of around 40-degree Celsius. You can ferment it in a yogurt maker, fermentation chamber, or simply a warm area (at 40^oC). You don’t cover the container tightly as it needs air for the natto yeast to grow. After 24 hours, it should already have a stringy consistency and you can already transfer it to the refrigerator. It will continue to ferment and will acquire a stringier texture. Cultured Food Life has easy to follow instructions on how to make it.

Giving natto a chance

While I haven’t tried making natto yet, I am considering buying a yogurt maker to make some. It’s a testament to how I have grown to love this funky ferment when I wasn’t also the biggest fan when I first tried it. Granted, I had all sorts of bias against natto. I heard how awful it smelled and tasted and that the slimy texture would make you gag. But I also knew it had many health benefits.

Rich in nutrients, probiotics, fiber, and nattokinase (an enzyme produced during natto fermentation that helps dissolve blood clots), the popular Japanese ferment is good for the heart, bones, our immune system, and our gut health. (If you want to deep dive into its nutritional benefits, you can check this medical literature on natto’s health function.) Japanese studies have also found that it may help lower blood pressure. With plenty of nutritional benefits, I was willing to give it another chance.

I realized, having grown up eating burong Kapampangan (fermented rice and fish or shrimp) whenever we spent summers in Pampanga, I’ve eaten funkier-smelling and more curious-tasting food and I ended up liking them. Maybe natto wouldn’t be too bad. And I’m glad I gave it another try.  

Preparing and eating natto

To eat natto, first, you mix it. It takes around a minute or two to get almost a creamy, viscous layer forming on the surface. Natto sold in Japanese grocery stores in Manila (or konbinis in Japan), often includes soy sauce or tare sauce and Japanese mustard. You mix them along with the natto.

I order my natto from a Manila-based Japanese natto maker and it comes in 200-gram tubs. They don’t come with condiments so I just add my own. The second time I tried natto, I added a few drops of coco aminos (which can be a soy sauce substitute) before mixing. It adds a hint of salty and sweet flavor to this natto’s bitter and almost roasted (coffee?) scent. (Natto, like other ferments, can have slight differences in taste depending on the maker.) I then put the creamy-like natto on top of freshly cooked rice. Within a span of a week, I’ve not only gotten used to the taste and texture of natto, I started craving it.

Unless I’m traveling, I have been eating natto every day for a couple of months now. Aside from just pairing it with rice, I’ve mixed it with cilantro, kimchi, or (since I am not vegan like Mabi and Karla) runny scrambled eggs. My favorite way to eat it is to put it on top of avocado slices and warm toast. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Sometimes I just put it on toasted open-face pandesal and I’m set.

Natto, similar to other ferments, has a strong flavor and smell that doesn’t immediately please everyone’s palate. Think vinegar, fish sauce, bagoong, kimchi, or burong isda. Unless you grew up eating them, you’ve got to overcome the smell and strangeness of it. And when you do, you can get rewarded with a taste so different from what you’re used to, it becomes a delight to eat every time.