Cultures for Health Natto Starter Spores | Traditional Soybean Japanese Food | Great Source of Protein, Vitamin K, Probiotics for Digestive Health | Gluten Free Vegan Plant Based Meat Alternative

Clear directions and worked great to make natto.

What can I say? If you want to make tasty Natto, these are the spores for you! I've used the Nattomoto spores in the past, and had several failed starts. Once I found Cultures for Health, I have had multiple successful natto batches with no failed starts. I use the smaller sized soybeans , and the taste, texture, and stringiness of my Natto has been excellent with this starter.

I tried two times. I had sterile equipment. Filtered water, no chlorine. Properly hydrated and cooked beans. Temperature regulated environment, not less than 100 F no more than 110 F. Proper aeration. On the first batch I was seeing no fermentation and the beans were acquiring a bitter taste. I added an extra packet to that batch. Still nothing. Second batch, smaller, was even more careful. Between 105 F and 110 F. Neither developed natto's signature taste, aroma, or slimy, stringiness. This product is bogus. Don't waste your money. I'm going to try a natto bean powder which users have said is still active and can make natto (available here on Amazon) and frozen natto from a local Asian food mart. Very disappointed.

Using this product, I made natto for the first time a couple of days ago. While the product seems to work as expected, making your own natto as opposed to buying it from a Japanese grocery store is a lot of work. And I don't think that it really saves much money. I can buy ready-made frozen natto at the Japanese grocery store for about $1 for a 1.5 ounce serving. To make natto, you must first buy the soybeans and the culture spores. Then you need to soak the beans for about 24 hours before cooking them. I used an instant pot. Then you have to sterilize any jars, utensils, etc., that might come into contact with the beans. Then you'll need another 24 hours to ferment the beans. Maybe going forward I'll do both so that I always have natto on hand. My understanding is that freezing the natto (which is the only way you can purchase it at a Japanese grocery store) kills some of the bacteria. So homemade can be preferable. I have incorporated natto into my diet because it helps tremendously with IBS symptoms. I find that eating natto with some sauerkraut, which I purchase Cleveland brand from Walmart, helps significantly with the worst of the IBS symptoms.

The spores seem to work well. I used them to make natto with canned black beans (no cooking required). However, the contents of a packet are far too much for one can of beans, or a small quantity. One packet will suffice for a very large quantity. The manufacturer should supply a small measuring spoon to use for making smaller quantities of natto.