Sugared Natto Red Bean
Sugared natto red bean is a candied whole adzuki bean, Vigna angularis, cooked until tender and then saturated with sugar by slow osmotic infusion so that the bean keeps its shape while its moisture is largely replaced by syrup.
Despite the name, the product has nothing to do with fermented natto. It is the confection known in Japan as amanatto, in which sound whole beans are held in sugar syrup of rising concentration over several days until the sugar concentration inside the cotyledon matches that of the syrup. Because the exchange is gradual, the seed coat does not rupture and the bean neither shrivels nor bursts, which is the whole point of the process. The finished bean is soft, sweet and glossy, with the dark reddish brown colour of adzuki deepened by the cook, and it carries a low enough water activity to be shelf stable at ambient temperature without refrigeration.
Two formats leave the plant, both loose in cartons, pails and vacuum bags: a dry sugar coated bean with a crystalline exterior, and a wet packed bean in residual syrup. The dry coated form is the one used as a bakery inclusion, since the surface crystal layer keeps the beans separate and limits moisture migration into the surrounding dough or cream.
We source bulk Sugared Natto Red Bean from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shandong. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Bakery ingredient
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Whole candied beans, evenly sugar coated, free from foreign matter |
| Colour | Dark reddish brown, uniform within the lot |
| Flavour and odour | Sweet, characteristic cooked adzuki, no fermented or scorched note |
| Whole beans, intact seed coat | 90 percent minimum by weight |
| Total soluble solids | 70 to 78 degrees Brix |
| Moisture | 22.0 percent maximum |
| Total sugars | 50 percent minimum |
| Water activity | 0.75 maximum |
| pH | 5.5 to 6.8 |
| Lead | 0.2 mg/kg maximum |
| Total plate count | 1,000 cfu/g maximum |
| Yeast and mould | 50 cfu/g maximum |
| Escherichia coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
The dry coated grade, rolled in granulated or fine caster sugar after drying, and the wet or syrup packed grade, drained but not surface dried, are the two commercial forms and behave quite differently in use. Bean size is the second grading axis, with large adzuki traded above small, and whole bean count with intact seed coat specified as a percentage, since split and burst beans are the usual defect from an infusion run that moved too fast.
Sugar level ranges from a full sugar traditional grade down to reduced sugar versions made with a partial replacement by maltitol or sorbitol, which lowers sweetness but also raises water activity and shortens ambient life. Colour is sometimes reinforced with a permitted colouring to give a uniform lot, and uncoloured grades are traded alongside. Some producers offer a soft grade at higher residual moisture for direct eating and a firmer, lower moisture grade intended for baking.
Applications
- Bread and sweet roll doughs, folded in as whole beans so they stay visible in the crumb
- Mooncake and Chinese pastry fillings, mixed into bean paste for a contrast of texture
- Steamed buns and rice cakes, distributed through the dough before steaming
- Cookies, muffins and cereal bars, used as a sweet legume inclusion in place of dried fruit
- Ice cream and frozen desserts, folded in cold where the low water activity limits ice crystal formation around the bean
- Wagashi and traditional Japanese confectionery, used whole as a component or a topping
- Bubble tea and dessert drinks, spooned in as a topping alongside jelly and pearls
- Cake decoration and pastry garnish, scattered on cream and mousse surfaces
- Retail confectionery, packed and sold on its own as a sweet bean snack
China Manufacturers of Sugared Natto Red Bean
Top Sugared Natto Red Bean manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Sugared beans are a composite food rather than a food additive, so no E number applies to the product itself and there is no additive listing in the United States. Manufacture falls under the general hygiene and process control frameworks, Regulation 852/2004 with the general food law in the European Union and the preventive controls rules of 21 CFR Part 117 in the United States. Safety rests mainly on the combination of sugar concentration and low water activity, supported by drying and by the thermal step during cooking, and these are the parameters normally documented as preventive controls.
Additives carried in the product are regulated individually. Regulation 1333/2008 authorises potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, used in higher moisture grades, in the European Union as E202 and E211, and 21 CFR 182.3640 and 21 CFR 184.1733 permit them in the United States. Polyols used in reduced sugar versions, sorbitol as E420 and maltitol as E965, are authorised in the European Union and carry a laxative effect warning above defined use levels, and in the United States they are used as generally recognised as safe sweeteners with a comparable labelling expectation. Any added colour must be permitted for the food category in the destination market and declared. Adzuki bean itself is a conventional food in both markets and is not a listed allergen, but the ingredient list must still disclose any sulphite treatment or carrier used in the coating.
Manufacturing Process
Dry adzuki beans are cleaned of stones and foreign seed, graded for size, and steeped in cold water for several hours until fully hydrated. They are then boiled or steamed gently until the cotyledon is tender through to the centre but the seed coat remains intact, a balance that determines the yield of whole beans in the finished lot. Many producers blanch and discard the first water to remove astringent seed coat compounds.
The cooked beans are transferred into a sugar syrup at a low starting concentration and held, then the syrup is drained and replaced with a stronger one, and the cycle is repeated over several days with each step raising the syrup solids. This staged approach is what allows the sugar to diffuse in and the water to diffuse out without collapsing the bean, which is exactly what happens if the beans are put straight into a concentrated syrup. When the interior has reached the target solids, the beans are drained, spread on trays or a belt and dried in warm air until the surface is tacky rather than wet. Dry coated grades are then tumbled with granulated sugar to build the crystalline exterior and dried again briefly, cooled and packed. Wet packed grades skip the coating and are filled with a measured quantity of syrup and pasteurised in the pack.
