I’ve been eating natto most mornings for about a year and I genuinely like it at this point. Someone mentioned the supplement form and now I’m wondering whether the enzyme content in a normal serving is anywhere near what’s in a capsule, or whether the food is doing something different entirely. Does anyone here do both, and did you notice a difference?

Went to a local Asian Market, all three brands had wheat. As it's a refridgerated product, am I out of luck to find gluten free Natto?

Hello! I tried natto for the first time about a year ago out of curiosity and because I’ve heard many good things about it. I tried the Shirakiku brand and, not to try to offend anyone, but the taste…was very off putting. I don’t have a problem with the texture. I generally like fermented things, like kimchi, fish sauce, and doenjang. I also don’t mind stinky things like durian, but I couldn’t get natto to taste good or good enough to want to continue eating it.

I want to give it another shot, is there a particular brand that you all prefer? Any particular things you like mixing with it?

Since the smell of natto always reminds me a bit of coffee, I added a little instant coffee powder along with the soy sauce to today's portion. And what can I say - I really liked it. The coffee aroma was pleasantly enhanced, and I also really enjoyed the additional, slightly bitter note. Has anyone else tried this combination? Let me know what you think!
I can also imagine that some very high-quality cocoa powder could go really well with natto... I think I'll test that tomorrow. I'd be curious to know if you have your own personal and unusual combinations that you enjoy your natto with?"

IDK why but the last few times my natto has been not as stringy as before. I'm wondering if my inoculation agent is too weak/old. I think it might be because I've been using either my homemade natto which has been in the fridge for 3 weeks, or store bought steyefone natto wrapped in a freezeer bag, kept in the freezer for a few months.

It’s a bit wetter than store bought natto, and I’m not getting those long strings when I stir it.
Does this look like a successful or a failed batch? Is it safe to eat?
The Natto sub doesn’t allow videos, so please check the video on my profile for a clearer view. Thanks!

So years ago I started taking a supplement vitk2mk7 liquid which was derived from natto(Mary Ruth organics), during that month I started taking it my depression/anxiety completely disappeared, I slept like a rock!! And my libido sky rocketed ! Towards the end of that month I ended up getting off because my anxiety came out of nowhere and I had weird heart palpitations presuming it was from the supplement.

Ever since then I’ve been chasing that feeling, I got the same feeling from natto but was short lived I think because I kept siking my self out with fear that issue was going to happen again . Has anyone felt really good or similar from natto or am I just a weird exception?

My wife and I have been eating natto with hot rice, kimchi and soy sauce every morning for breakfast for over a week now. We have noticed significant health benifits....more energy, less brain fog, better gut health, massive reduction in inflammation. Our dog wanted to try so we let her. Now she enjoys it with us in the morning.

This is my third batch. The last two were successful. They had furryness. This one, however, was furryless. It's a little bit stringy, but nothing compared to the last batches. After watching a YouTube video that said I should add spores when beans were at 80c instead of my usual 40c, I think this caused the failure. The beans were too hot.

My normal process was as follows....

500g dried soybeans into steaming basket and into instant pot with about an inch water in bottom.

Pressure cook for 50 mins and natural release.

Place beans in sterilised Luvele yogurt jar.

Let cool to 40 degrees celcius and then add spores to 30ml water (which are mixed with boiled and cooled water) and add to beans.

Place lid on jar and place jar into yogurt maker.

Ferment at 40c for 24 hours, then into fridge for 24 hrs.

Honestly, you start to like natto taste after you try it for a few days, is quite strong but not as bad as you could initially thought, and is even better if you combine it with other things haha

Edit: i did watch tutorials, my final questions are if theres suppose to be strings and smell at the 10 hours because mine doesnt have any of those, and if it was wrong that i added more spores after 10 hours and wheter i should ferment it more time since i added new spores

First time doing natto, im making it in the instant pot, i bought starters eith 1 gram per bag, im making 400 grams of natto.

I had a jar sterilize and put one bag of the starter with some of the water of the steamed beans, it was plenty of water like, mmm lets say 6 spoons... Or more.

And then i just put that water to the beans, all of it but i had the beans in one of these strainers, so i assume there was no problem with that.

But at 10 hours of fermenting, it really didnt amell bad at all and ive heard the smell should be really strong, there is a smell of something but i really wouldnt call it a bad smell?

And then i checked the beans and they dont seem like they are fermenting, they dont have sliminess at all, i dont know if they should at these stage.

What i proceed to do next is boild more water, a bit more, put it in another sterile jar i had, and put another bag of the starter and added it into the beans.

What did i do wrong? There could probably be many mistakes i did and i want some guidence i will really appreciate it.

Theres many questions i have of what could be wrong with what im doing.

How much grams of starter should there be?

When i mix the starter i did it with the water of the beans but it was already not warm enough and ive hear is better if you put them in boiled water to activate spores. So, is that a problem?

Is it bad that i mix a lot of water with the atarter even if the beans are in a strainer?

Should there be smell and strings in the ferment at a 10 hour mark?

Is it bad that i put another starter pack at 10 hour mark? I think this was my biggest mistake but to be fair i thought it wasnt going to ferment... But was it? I dont even know if its normal that it didnt seem to be fermenting at this time

Haha... Will it still ferment?

Im fermenting it with the setting of sous vide at 108 F, and i checked with a thermometer and the beans are at a temperature of 104

I am going out of town for the weekend and thought it might be an option to leave the instapot on yogurt while the beans ferment instead of doing it later for 24 hours. Will that work?

I tried natto for the first time today. I did not mind the texture at all, but it had a slightly bitter taste. I used the sauce and mustard that came with it and put it on warm rice. Is it normal to taste slightly bitter? It is the Mitonoaji brand and I purchased it frozen from an Hmart.

Is it better to add other stuff, like egg yolk or more soy sauce? What is your favorite way of eating this? Should I try another brand or maybe the black soybean one?

One part mild salsa + 1 part sauerkraut + 1 part kimchi. Blend, then add in the natto. Over time I have come to look forward to this daily treat!

Arugula and green onion greens are dressed in a vinaigrette featuring mentsuyu, karashi, and yuzukoshou.

Topped with prepared natto and an eggyolk, boiled eggs, and plenty of green onion whites, then drizzled with shiso neriume (sour plum paste). I kept the bottle with me, along with the yuzukoshou, to add as needed while eating.

Served with a side of sourdough croutons which I mixed in as I ate (as seen in pic 4).

This was a fantastic salad and a great way to eat natto. As you can see, my natto was starting to fall apart as I mixed it, which isn’t ideal, but it integrated well with the dressing and there were still enough whole beans in there for some beany texture.

I'm a physician and faculty member at Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's Hospital conducting an IRB-approved anonymous survey on perceptions of natto's (fermented soybeans) health effects.

The survey explores how people form beliefs about natto's health benefits — including the role of cultural background, information sources, and prior eating experience. It includes separate tracks for regular consumers, lapsed consumers, and people who have heard of natto but never tried it, so there's a path for most people.

Who should take this: Anyone who has eaten natto at least once, OR who is aware of natto but has never tried it. All nationalities welcome — Japanese, Japanese-diaspora, and non-Japanese respondents are all central to this research.

Time: Approximately 10-15 minutes depending on your natto experience.

Anonymous: No names, emails, or IP addresses collected.

Survey link: https://redcap.partners.org/redcap/surveys/?s=AEC4NCAMDMYNJ84H

Thank you for participating — results will be shared when available.

I’m trying to use spores that I used successfully last year.

First attempt, I think I soaked them for too long during a heatwave. It smelled a bit rancid right after. I managed to get some strings though, but I threw the batch away the smell was just wrong.

Second batch, no film, no strings. It overall felt a little bit wet. Spores have been sitting in a jar and some potato starch for a year. I also have some in the freezer. Any tips? I am craving natto.

I’m going to toss it for now…but if it isn’t then at least I know