Question
Jenny Grandbois
Can I use an oven to ferment nattō?
Answer
I love it, uh, for the greater audience out there. NATO is, uh, a form of fermented soybeans, which, uh, comes from Japanese cuisine. NATO comes in many, many, uh, different, uh, styles and, um, different size beans are used. And, uh, the degree of smelliness, uh, the fermented stinkiness varies. Some NATO is, uh, sweet. Some of it is crispy, like, um, uh, nut brittle. Um, it, it is super interesting and, uh, a very delicious category of food. Um, so back to your question here. Um, I suppose you could, you know, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, in today's program, uh, you can use your oven, uh, you know, as a, uh, a warm box, um, by heating it up, turning off the temperature, and just, uh, finding that space in there that's appropriate temperature wise for what it is that you're doing. Um, definitely turn the oven off. Uh, if you're fermenting something, the, even at the lowest temperature setting, the oven will be too hot, and you'll end up killing all those beautiful microorganisms. Um, and in fact, you might need to just play with the oven repeatedly, turning it on and off in order to maintain your temperature over time. Um, you know, the other thing to do is to wrap that container, uh, with towels, um, or a blanket in order to insulate it, uh, which will help to, um, uh, you know, maintain, uh, the temperature, uh, without, uh, uh, great fluctuations.
