ABSTRACT

Among the traditional Japanese foods with a history of more than 1000 years, miso, shoyu, and natto, which are all produced from soybeans, have come to be mass-produced in modern factories. Soybeans are very rich in nutrition, but the fermented foods mentioned are created as a result of the changes brought about by the modification process thanks to microorganisms, or of additional substances not contained in the original soybeans. Natto, a food with sticky threads, is representative of the so-called salt-free fer-mented soybean foods produced by the fermentation of boiled or steamed soybeans using Bacillus subtilis natto. Tempeh is a salt-free fermented soybean food produced by using the effects on soybeans of microorganisms centering around molds including Rhizopus. Shoyu is a seasoning made from the fermentation of soybeans with malt, which has a strong antibacterial activity used in the fermentation process. Tofuyo is a unique fermented soybean food that has long been a tradition in Okinawa.