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How many times should you mix natto to make it more delicious?

Oona McGee May 29, 2025
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Find out if mixing natto 50, 100, 500 or 1,000 times makes it taste less or more like smelly socks.

One of the most divisive foods in Japan is natto, or fermented soybeans. While first-time eaters might describe the texture as snot-like and the taste like old socks, those who love natto will tell you it gets more delicious the more you mix it. But the question is: How many times should you actually mix it for the best flavour?

We decided to get to the bottom of the matter by mixing a pack of natto 50 times, then 100 times, then 500 times and then… 1,000 times. The change in look and texture was something to behold, so let’s start the process by opening our pack, removing the plastic covering, and pouring over the sauce.

Now all that’s left to do is mix it with a pair of chopsticks, turning the beans over and over and over again. Surprisingly, 50 rotations went by in a flash, and this was the result.

Some of the beans were still clumped together, giving it a chewy texture, and the stickiness was a bit on the light side. It felt as if the sauce hadn’t blended into the natto as well as it could have, and it wasn’t as well mixed as we would have liked it to be.

▼ So… time for more mixing.

After another 50 rotations, we now had a natto that had been mixed 100 times, and this was the result.

Compared to the previous mix, the stickiness had clearly increased, and the texture was decidedly fluffy. With this much mixing, most of the beans had separated so you could really get a sense of each individual bean. Without ever having counted before, this was pretty much how we usually mix up our natto, so it was just how we like it.

▼ The Goldilocks of natto.

Now it was time to find out what natto mixed 500 times looks like. However, at the 200 mark, we felt our arm start to seize up, and as we pushed through the pain to get to the 300 mark, we paused to find that the natto had turned white like snow, with its distinctive aroma clearly wafting up from the tray. Although we’d imagined it would become fluffier with the extra mixing, it actually became gooier, with the light-and-airy look quickly fading with every turn. Still, we continued until we reached the 500 mark, when the natto looked like this.

Despite having eaten natto hundreds of times before, we’d never seen, or tasted it, like this. The texture was incredibly smooth, unlike anything we’d ever experienced before, and the salty flavour of the sauce had mellowed out so the taste and aroma of the natto was now more intense.

▼ We were surprised by how clearly the taste and texture had changed.

Now it was time to work through the pain again, mixing and mixing and mixing and mixing… until we reached the 1,000 mark, which gave us this.

The appearance wasn’t too dissimilar to the natto that had been mixed 500 times, but how would it taste?

To our surprise, it tasted exactly the same! Despite the additional 500 rotations, there was no discernable difference in taste or texture, so our arm workout had all been in vain.

▼ To recap, this was the evolution of natto after each mixing milestone, starting with 50 turns at the top left, and ending with 1,000 at the bottom right.

So at which stage was the natto most delicious? According to our Japanese-language reporter Udonko who tried them all, 100 rotations is best as it creates a good balance between sauce and bean, and creates just the right amount of creamy stickiness.

Of course, results may vary depending on the type of natto you use, and personal preferences play a role in determining the ideal number of mixes, but you can’t go wrong with using 100 rotations as the yardstick for a good natto. After 300 turns, the natto doesn’t change much at all, so unless you want to give yourself an arm workout, we don’t recommend going beyond that number.

It just goes to show that there really is magic in these beans — not only can they change in taste, texture and appearance, they’re also said to be incredibly good for your health… if you can stomach eating them.

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[ Read in Japanese ]