J Mart Japanese Grocery Inc.

Natto, a traditional Japanese food, has been gaining popularity worldwide for its unique flavor, texture, and impressive health benefits. Made from fermented soybeans, natto is often considered a superfood due to its rich nutritional profile. In this blog, we’ll explore what natto is, its health benefits, how to enjoy it, and why you should consider adding it to your diet.

What is Natto?

Natto is made by fermenting soybeans with a specific strain of bacteria called Bacillus subtilis. This fermentation process not only preserves the soybeans but also enhances their nutritional value. The result is a sticky, somewhat slimy dish with a strong, pungent aroma that can be an acquired taste for many. Natto is typically served over rice and is often accompanied by soy sauce, mustard, or green onions.

Nutritional Benefits of Natto

1. Rich in Protein: Natto is an excellent source of plant-based protein, making it a great option for vegetarians and vegans. A typical serving can provide around 15 grams of protein.
2. High in Vitamins and Minerals: Natto is particularly rich in vitamin K2, which plays a crucial role in bone health and cardiovascular function. It also contains significant amounts of iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
3. Probiotics for Gut Health: The fermentation process produces beneficial probiotics that can help improve gut health, enhance digestion, and boost the immune system.
4. Nattokinase: This unique enzyme found in natto has been studied for its potential cardiovascular benefits, including the ability to dissolve blood clots and improve circulation.
5. Antioxidant Properties: Natto contains antioxidants that can help combat oxidative stress in the body, potentially reducing the risk of chronic diseases.

How to Enjoy Natto

While natto is traditionally eaten for breakfast in Japan, there are many ways to incorporate it into your meals:

• Natto Over Rice: The classic way to enjoy natto is to serve it over steamed rice, drizzled with soy sauce and topped with green onions.
• Natto Sushi: Use natto as a filling for sushi rolls, combining it with avocado, cucumber, or other vegetables.
• Natto Salad: Mix natto with fresh vegetables, sesame oil, and a splash of vinegar for a nutritious salad.

For a delightful twist, consider adding bonito flakes, nori seaweed strips, okra, tempura bits, rice seasoning furikake, and pickled plums to your arrangements.

Tips for First-Time Natto Eaters

If you’re new to natto, here are a few tips to help you ease into this unique food:

• Start Small: Begin with a small serving to get accustomed to the flavor and texture.
• Pair with Familiar Foods: Combine natto with ingredients you already enjoy, such as rice or avocado, to make it more palatable.
• Experiment with Seasonings: Try different sauces and toppings to find a combination that you love.

Natto is a fascinating food that offers a wealth of health benefits and culinary possibilities. While its strong flavor and texture may not appeal to everyone at first, those who embrace it often find it to be a delicious and nutritious addition to their diet. Whether you’re looking to boost your protein intake, improve your gut health, or simply try something new, natto is worth a spot on your plate. So why not give it a try? You might just discover a new favorite superfood!

When it comes to autumn flavors, “Sanma” is definitely a highlight. Sanma has been loved as a commoner’s dish in Japan since the Edo period. The moment you take a bite of the perfectly grilled skin, crispy and fragrant, with the rich, fatty flesh inside, is pure bliss.

How to cook Sanma using a grill.

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

• 2 sanma
• Salt (for sprinkling) – 2/3 teaspoon (4g)
• Grated daikon, sudachi (a type of citrus), and soy sauce or ponzu

Instructions

1. Gently scrape the Sanma from the tail to the head with a knife to remove scales, dirt, and slime. Rinse it quickly under running water and pat it dry with paper towel.
   
   
2. For each Sanma, sprinkle 1/3 teaspoon (2g) of salt evenly on both sides and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Use paper towel to press down and wipe away the moisture that comes out.
   
   
3. Make cuts on the skin side of the Sanma and wrap the tail in aluminum foil. (The tail of the Sanma is prone to burning, making it difficult to grill while keeping its shape intact, so it is recommended to wrapped in aluminum foil.)
   
   
4. Brush oil (or vinegar) onto the grill with a brush or with paper towel. Warm up the grill for about 5 minutes before grilling the Sanma.
   (The key is to oil or vinegar the grill and preheat. By applying oil or vinegar on the grill you can prevent the skin of the Sanma from sticking, allowing it to cook beautifully without the skin peeling off)
   
   
5. When plating, place the side that will be facing up down, and grill over medium heat for 5 minutes, then flip and grill for another 5 minutes. Serve on a plate and accompany with grated daikon, sudachi (lime or lemon works too) , and soy sauce.
   

Enjoy Sanma with a side of warm sake~

Japanese curry is one of the ultimate comfort foods of all time.

Japanese beloved comfort food. It usually includes rice, vegetables, and meat or seafood, making it both tasty and nutritious.

Curry powder arrived in Japan in 1868, brought by British ships, and quickly became popular. By 1872, people started creating different curry recipes that mixed the flavorful curry with rice, vegetables, and meat.

As Japanese curry grew in popularity, it changed a lot. It was first served in Western-style restaurants but soon became a common dish in homes. The introduction of curry roux—a convenient mix of spices and thickening agents—in the early 1900s made it easy for families to cook curry at home, leading to its widespread use.

Japanese curry is typically made with meat (like pork, chicken, or beef), vegetables (such as potatoes, carrots, and onions), and a rich sauce. The sauce is often sweetened with honey or apple, giving it a unique flavor. It’s usually served over rice, making it a filling and satisfying meal.

Simple Japanese Curry Recipe

Ingredients:

• Beef (or chicken)
• Onion
• Carrot
• Potato
• Lard (or oil)
• Flour
• Curry powder
• Soup (or broth)
• Salt
• Cooked rice

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Ingredients: Cut the beef (or chicken), onion, carrot, and potato into small cubes.
2. Prepare the Frying Pan: In a separate frying pan, heat lard (or oil) and sauté the flour until it turns a light brown color.
3. Add Curry Powder: Stir in the curry powder with the sautéed flour, then gradually add soup (or broth) to create a thin, smooth consistency.
4. Simmer the Ingredients: Add the cubed meat and vegetables to the curry sauce and simmer until everything is cooked through and tender.
5. Plating: Serve the cooked rice on a plate, season the simmered ingredients with salt, and place them on top of the rice.
6. Serving Suggestion: Japanese curry pairs wonderfully with pickled vegetables such as Fukujinzuke, a mix of finely chopped pickled daikon radish, eggplant, lotus root, and cucumber, as well as Rakkyo, which are pickled scallion roots.

Simple Miso Soup Recipe

Ingredients serves 4
Tofu…1/2 block
Seaweed…40g
Dashi…300ml
Miso…3 Tbsp

1) Boil water. Once boiled, add the concentrated Dashi in the pan.

2) Lower the heat and add miso as you whisk it.

3) Cut the tofu into blocks of 2cm. Roughly cut the seaweed into 2 cm long pieces. Add it to the pan with the dashi and miso.

4) Turn off the heat just before the soup comes to the boil and the tofu shakes and floats. Scoop the soup into a soup bowl and add chopped fresh vegetables such as green onions.

It’s Shincha Season!!
We have Green Teas from the Land of the Rising Sun, Nippon!!

What is Shincha?

Shincha (新茶 or “new tea”) is a Japanese green tea that comes from first harvest sencha during spring. Shincha comes from the best of the highly-coveted first-harvest leaves.

It’s only available in limited quantities during the springtime which makes it a prized tea. 
During winter, tea plants store minerals and nutrients, such as amino acids, which are then released into the various parts of the plant when it starts to bud.
This provides Shincha its characteristic sweet taste compared to other Japanese green teas, as well as a lower level of astringency. Not only is Shincha made from the best quality leaves, but it is also the freshest tea you can enjoy.

Check out our instagram for more details.

Dashi is a key ingredient in authentic Japanese cooking and is essential for adding flavor to dishes. It’s similar to bouillon in Western cooking, but it works differently by enhancing the natural flavors of the main ingredients.

Dashi is used in many Japanese dishes, from Gyudon (beef bowl) to hotpots and Miso soup. Without dashi, food can taste bland and lifeless.

Dashi helps bring out Umami, the fifth taste, which is rich in amino acids and adds a unique deliciousness to meals.

Here are the main ingredients used to make dashi:

• Konbu (seaweed kelp): Provides glutamate dashi.
• Katsuo (shaved bonito flakes): Provides inosinate dashi.
• Shiitake mushrooms: Also provide glutamate dashi.
• Niboshi (dried sardines): Provide inosinate dashi.

Combining these ingredients creates a richer flavor known as Awase (combined) dashi.

To make dashi, you soak and boil these ingredients to extract their flavorful amino acids. Dashi is tasty on its own, but it also enhances and balances the flavors of other ingredients in cooking.

BASIC DASHI PREPARATION

Konbu Dashi　

Great for: Clear soups, Nabe hot pots, Sushi rice

Ingredients:
4 cups water
4 inch square Dashi Konbu

Preparation:

1. Lightly wipe off surface of Dashi Konbu with a damp cloth. Do not wash.
2. Add cold water into a saucepan. Place Konbu square into water, and let soak for one hour.
3. Heat water using low heat. Just before water comes to a boil, remove Konbu and discard. Remove Dashi from heat source. Makes 4 cups.

Katsuo Dashi

Great for: Nimono, clear soups, Miso soup

Ingredients:
3-1/4 cups cold water
2/3 oz Hanakatsuo

Preparation:

1. Heat water in saucepan using medium heat. Just before water comes to a boil, add Hanakatsuo.
2. While water returns to boil, skim off foam that rises to the surface.
3. When water reaches boiling point, remove from heat source. Cool a bit before straining Dashi with cheesecloth or paper towels. Makes about 3 cups.
   

Awase Dashi

Great for: Clear soups, Nimono, Noodle sauces

Ingredients:
4-1/4 cups cold water
4 inch square Dashi Konbu
2/3 oz Hanakatuso

Preparation:

1. Prepare Konbu Dashi.
2. Add Hanakatsuo to saucepan while returning back to a boil under medium heat. Skim off foam that rises to the surface.
3. When Dashi returns to a boil, remove from heat source. Cool a bit before straining Dashi with cheesecloth or paper towels. Makes about 4 cups.

Hanamaruki Foods is a large miso manufacturer founded almost 100 year ago. Their unique preparation of Shiokoji is wonderful for adding umami to many dishes.

Shiokoji is a traditional Japanese condiment made from three ingredients: Salt, Koji (Fermented Rice) and Water.

Hanamaruki’s Liquid Shiokoji is one of a kind and convenient preparation of traditional Shiokoji. Unlike the traditional Shiokoji which still contains grounds of rice, Hanamaruki has filtered out all of the remaining of the ground rice and made it to pure liquid, still containing the rich enzymes from the fermentation process.

Since the liquid Shiokoji is not heat-treated, and the enzymes it contains remain active. These enzymes are effective in neutralizing natural strong scents from meat as it is cooked and also enhance the texture by creating a soft and tender product. Adding LIQUID SHIO KOJI in even small amounts increases the amount of amino acids in a dish, giving you a full-flavored finish.

We highly recommend using this product on Sashimi. You will not be disappointed.

Bring UMAMI into your foods!!

A Gift from the Sea

Moshio is salt derived from seawater and seaweed like sargassum. The beige-tinted salt, rich in minerals from seawater and seaweed, has mild flavor, aroma, and umami derived from seaweed that not only set it apart from rock- or sun-dried salt but also gain popularity for Moshio as all-natural health food.

Moshio is the earliest known sea salt produced by our Japanese ancestors nearly 2,500 years ago. Although Japan is surrounded by sea water, the country’s humid, rainy climate has never been well suited for large-scale production of dry salt.

Moshio contains abundant seaweed minerals like iodine, calcium, potassium and magnesium. Relatively low in salinity, Moshio has a mild taste and rich umami.

Moshio contains seaweed’s rich sweetness and is great for many kinds of dishes and uses:

Sprinkle on: Grilled fish, yakiniku barbecue, yakitori chicken skewers
For dipping: Tempura, tofu, steak, etc.

Sushi and Sashimi
Soup stock, vinegared sushi rice, pickles, pickled plums, rice balls

Broth for salt-based ramen.

Food preparation
Seasoning (fish, meat, etc.)

Also for salads, with tofu, gyoza dumplings, making noodles (soba, somen, udon, etc.)
French, Italian, Chinese cuisines, baking, desserts
Bread, baguettes