Dish · japanese
Natto
Fermented soybeans, sticky and stringy when stirred, eaten over rice with soy sauce, scallion, and a dab of hot mustard. The smell is sharp and the texture pulls into thin threads when lifted with chopsticks.
Where it comes from
Natto fermentation with Bacillus subtilis goes back at least a thousand years in Japan, originally an accident of soybeans stored in straw, which carries the bacteria naturally. It stayed a regional food in eastern Japan longer than it took to spread nationwide.
What cooks argue about
The real variable is how long and hard you stir it: more stirring builds more sticky strands and mellows the smell, while barely stirred natto stays looser and sharper tasting.
Versions
Nobody has published a natto here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
natto