Clearing the Path For the Stinky, Sticky, Beloved Superfood of Japan: NYrture Natto | food. curated.

Meet Ann Yonetani, the founder/owner and microbiologist behind NYrture New York Natto, an artisanal Japanese natto maker located in Brooklyn, NY. If there's one thing that gets Ann excited, it's bacteria. Ask her about it and her face lights up, she adjusts her glasses, her body settles more comfortably in her chair. She could talk for hours about the microbial worlds that symbiotically live inside us and all around us, a passion that both challenges and fascinates her. Not surprisingly, Ann sees herself as a bacteria farmer more than a natto maker (a distinction I find endlessly charming). By cultivating a healthy environment for growing good bacteria, her soybeans actively ferment into the superfood Japanese call: natto. A food jam-packed with nutrients and health/wellness benefits. This is where her evangelism begins.

To Ann's knowledge, only 3-4 small companies make natto in America, a very tiny market compared to Japan where natto is ubiquitous. Walk into any supermarket or corner store in Japan, you'll easily find over a dozen options for natto. It's a savory morning ritual there, traditionally eaten over warm rice often mixed with soy sauce or a raw egg and scallions. "A power breakfast food," Ann explains "their version of a protein shake or acai bowl." But unfortunately, in America, natto has little exposure. It hasn't reached the popularity of Japanese ramen or sushi. Ann wants to change that.

♪ (gentle music) ♪

["All good food has a story."]

(Ann Yonetani) It's true that natto
has this very unique gooey, sticky texture

but to me that's fun!

You know, it's interesting.
(laughter)

It's something to talk about.

Natto truly is the Japanese cheese.

It's a vegan version or a really complex,
umami-rich, like washed rind cheese.

And yeah, many cheese lovers
really enjoy natto

and see that parallel in flavor profile.

It's a food that I feel
like more people needs to have access to

because I think that
can benefit a lot of people

by incorporating it into their diets.

Hi, my name is Ann Yonetani,
I'm the founder and owner of NYrture Food

which makes natto in Brooklyn, New York.

Natto is really a ubiquitous food,

an everyday food that's most commonly
eaten for breakfast.

Yes, I feel like I have sort of taken on
the mission of being a cheerleader,

a spokesperson, an evangelist
for natto in America.

And it really is because I truly believe
that natto is so special, so unique...

I think if there's any food on earth
that deserves to be called a superfood

is natto.

♪ (slow piano music) ♪

It's good.

In a weird way, I'm an urban farmer,
an urban micro farmer.

I grow bacteria,
and those bacteria eat soybeans,

and they help me produce natto.

Yeah, I'm a nerd.
(laughter)

So, this is day one of
Nyrture's natto-making-process.

Every batch starts with this step,

which is me hand-sorting
through the beans.

I kind of love this step--
I love this step and I hate this step

but there's something very meditative
about the process

and our beans are beautiful,
I mean, they're so clean,

you know, 99.9% of them look fantastic.

I'd like to think that
every single natto bean we sell

has passed underneath my eyes.

I'm a microbiologist,
that's how I got into this business,

just by being fascinated by
the power of the microbial world.

So, I'm interested in how consuming
some of these good bacterias,

these probiotic-types of bacteria
in the form of fermented food

has that impact in human health.

Our first products--

So those little white dots
are actually chemically-pure umami taste.

There is written documentation
describing natto for over a 1000 years.

In the West, and in America,
is virtually unknown.

It makes me think that if more adults
will come to natto with just an open mind,

a lot more of them might find
that they actually like it. (chuckles)

This might be excessive
but I wash them ten times,

you know, soak them, entertain them,

and dump out the water.

And then, they sit in the water overnight,

so that the beans are able to hydrate.

They will swell to over twice
the weight and volume.

When I first learned how to make natto

from a fifth-generation-natto-maker
in Tokio--

he told me that the most important step
was to choose the best beans to start with

and he was right.

The best natto soybeans in America
are grown in northern midwest,

mostly in North Dakota,

and something that
a lot of people don't realize

is that most of the natto
that is made in the world,

i.e. the natto that is made
and sold in Japan,

it's actually, most of it,
is made from US-grown soy,

and the bulk for that, also,
from North Dakota, specifically.

We also have black soybeans

and then, we have another brown beans
which are certified organic.

Natto soybeans are very different
from the typical commodity soybean.

That's their non-GMO certified definition.

But soybeans that are used to make natto
by any decent natto-maker

are really beans that have been
carefully selected over generations

to be ideal for this particular
fermentation process.

What makes Nyrture's natto unique:

Our natto is fresh,

it's never been frozen--

unlike all the natto
that is imported from Japan,

which is frozen before export.

That's important,

one, because freezing and thawing food
can really affect its taste and texture,

but two, if people are motivated
to eat natto for its health benefits,

freezing and thawing,
also, significantly damage

those health benefits, as well.

(Liza) How is it?

Good, they're nice and soft,
has some sugar to it, it's sweet...

It has at least three
completely unique properties

that are unlike any other food on earth.

Number one, it's probiotic,
it's fermented with Bacillus subtilis,

which is a member
of the healthy gut microbiome,

so it's a probiotic bacteria

that isn't found in any other
fermented food certainly in the West.

The second one is that natto

is the most concentrated food source
of vitamin K2 of any food on earth,

and it beats any other
by an order of magnitude.

Vitamin K2 is essential for bone health

but it's also very important
for cardiovascular health.

It doesn't matter
how much calcium you eat,

if you don't have enough vitamin K2
to help recruit it out of your bloodstream

and bring it to to your bones,

it accumulates and causes
arterial calcification,

and leads to heart disease.

The third reason is that
there's an enzyme named after natto,

called nattokinase,

and this enzyme is
a natural blood thinner.

It has an enzymatic activity which,
actually, has been shown

to be able of breaking down blood clots,

and the only natural source of it
is natto.

Well, there are some cardiologists
who are starting to promote natto.

We're really hoping to work
with healthcare providers

to educate them, and help them
educate their patients.

Whether your reason is the vitamin K2,

the nattokinase content,
or the probiotics,

why not at least give it a try
and eat the food which is,

one, delicious, I think,

two, cheaper than taking a pill,

and three, you get all three
of these benefits at once.

They sit here and age
and don't require flavors [inaudible]

Many Japanese people have told me
that our natto

is the most delicious natto
they've ever had

either here or even in Japan,

which is great to hear.

I've also gone to
the National Natto Competition in Japan

and met many natto producers from Japan,

and also have gotten very high praise
from natto producers in Japan.

♪ (exciting music) ♪

I think the favorite moment of mine

in the entire week-long-process
of making the natto

is that moment
after the fermentation is complete

when I get to pull back the film
on a fresh tray of natto,

and just see that neba-neba stickiness,

those spiderwebs,
sort of coming off the beans--

The more resistance
I have from those strings,

the better I know the fermentation is,
the better the natto,

so it serves as quality control assessment
at the same time,

but I love that feeling
of the biofilm resisting my pull.

(laughter)

♪ (exciting music) ♪

Yeah, we really look at this
as a long game

and we're at the very beginning of it
right now,

but I suspect it may take 10 years,
maybe 20 years,

for natto to become known enough
for people to recognize it

as a thing, as a food...

It'll take a while, and a lot of education
and exposure like this,

to just spread the word.

♪ (outro music) ♪

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