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it will dry out. Experiment. Maintain humidity necessary by placing an open dish containing water in the box.

*Place the covered casserole dish in the "fermenting box" with a "warm" heat source; a light bulb, 40 or 60 watt will likely suffice. The object is to maintain an even temperature between 100 degrees F and 108 degrees F. (37C to 42 C approx.) in a moderately high humidity environment for approximately 16-24 hours to complete the fermentation.

*Ferment the Natto by holding that temperature for up to 24 hours. If you want a stronger flavour, turn off the heat after 24 hours, but do not mix the Natto or disturb the process for another 24 hours.

*Take the fermented beans out of the pan . It may have a whitish cast' on it if the humidity was too high, and the surface will be cracked and dried out if there was insufficient humidity.
Refrigerate the Natto for a few days, perhaps a week, preferably in a clean, covered replacement container, to age it a bit.

Try it! Hopefully your batch turned out well ! Stir it a bit, you will see that it becomes a bit stringy as you stir it. If it gets stringy, that is a sign that the Natto bacillus worked.
Reportedly, the way to test your Natto is to add some soy sauce and mix it well. If it forms strings ("neba neba" in Japanese) again when you stir it a few hours later, it is fine .
It should NOT taste sour. Keep the finished product refrigerated ..

Eat Natto with rice, vegetables, in a sandwich, or add to soups and other dishes. Try soya sauce and mustards as condiments. Enjoy!

Cautions, Extra Hints and Disclaimer :

-DO try some commercial Natto first so you know have a basic idea what Natto should taste like, as opposed to spoilage. Results can also vary with different brands of commercially made natto as the seed culture
-Use a little of your Natto and FREEZE the rest !
-If your Natto turned out well, you can even use some of it to re-seed a new batch!

-This is an organic, fermented food, much like fermented pickles, cheese, sauerkraut and other similar, naturally made foods and may be easily contaminated by other spoilage bacteria. Like cheeses, some batches turn out better tasting than others !
If your process was not sanitary, highly variable and questionable results CAN be achieved so DO exercise caution and care ! Nobody has any control over the quality of the process except the person making it

1. http://www.gemcultures.com/soy _cultures.htm
2. http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/kor yu/ibaraki/eibara6.htm
3. http://web-japan.org/trends/sc ience/sci040304.html

Learn more about this author, Raymond Alexander Kukkee.
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