How to store natto starter culture between ferments?

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How to store natto starter culture between ferments?

Postby WF Newbie on Wed Jun 03, 2015 4:35 pm

I want to make my very first natto ferment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I will buy a commercially sold natto product, then use a small amount of this for my "starter culture". This starter culture will be poured on to my own cooked beans. Once these beans have fermented in to natto, I could then save some of it for my second natto ferment. But if I am not going to do my second natto ferment for a few weeks, how do I store this starter culture? Thanks a lot.
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Re: How to store natto starter culture between ferments?

Postby MartinKrpan on Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:20 am

I took a small amount of fermented beans, dried them in an dehydrator and ground them up with some rice flour in a coffee grinder. The spores worked well a few days after, but I haven't made natto after that anymore, so I cant say how long they last.

If this is your first time making homemade natto please let us know how it turns out. I tried making natto from store-bought spores and and by your method (so using store-bought natto as a starter). I really like the natto i found in 3 or 4 small containers, the smell and taste were both nutty and mild, with maybe just a hint of ammonia. But the natto I made at home was way too pungent, the smell of ammonia was overwhelming and the beans tasted way too much of rot. I tried making them twice with a starter culture and both times they turned out the same. The one time I made it with a batch of store-bought natto they turned out quite well, just like the "seed" beans, but after a day or two in the fridge the taste of rot became the same as with my batch of natto made from spores. Was really disappointed, especially because the store-bough natto remained the same for 2 weeks.
I believe the fault lies in the soy beans (the only ones I can get in my country are twice the size of natto beans from the store). I'm planning to make adzuki beans natto, maybe that'll turn out better.
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Re: How to store natto starter culture between ferments?

Postby WF Newbie on Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:51 am

I will let you know how my first natto experiment goes - probably in 2.5 weeks time. I was also thinking of using different beans! Eg adzuki, mung, black..

Unfortunately I'm a bit put off buying "nattomoto", the starter culture, because I think the factory where it is made is quite close to fukushima. So, I'll get a store bought natto product instead, and get the spores from that.

I've bought a little halogen oven, so that I can steralise my natto fermenting containers. I'm just waiting for it turn up from Amazon..
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Re: How to store natto starter culture between ferments?

Postby WF Newbie on Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:57 am

@MartinKrpan, please note that I mentioned how I got on with my first natto experiment (using lentils) in the following WF forum thread:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4352

My post is currently the last in that thread. I'm really pleased with the results. I fermented 2 containers of "nattified" lentils. One container could be considered a failure, but the other appears to have been a success. It smelt fine - a hint of rotteness. The gooey, slimy, stringiness can be seen throughout the lentils, in fact more so now it's been in the fridge overnight. The lentils are very soft. They taste just fine.

I think there may be 2 or 3 factors that have helped make the project succeed: temperature, and the use of a probiotic powder, and the cleanliness of the container.

The successful container was nearer the cooler fermenting box (proofer) lid, and not right next to the proofer's heat source at the bottom. Also, I wonder how much the probiotic powder helped?

One other factor could be that somehow the second container, the failed container, could have got contaminated by some pollutant, and the good bacteria may not have had a chance to thrive.

In about a week's time, I am going to try this experiment again, but use different beans - probably a mixture of small beans like mung and adzuki. I might also use some wild black rice. And I might also throw in a sweet potato, for some more experimenting fun. ;)
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