Edamame is healthy and unique Japanese food that has become popular in several countries. On the other hand, it is unfamiliar to many people because it's just a newcomer except a few countries in East Asia.
In this page, we are going to list 8 good things that you should know about edamame. Since we are Japanese and our office is located in the prefecture where edamame yield is over 5,000 tons every year, let us talk about the secrets about edamame.
After reading this, you will feel like trying edamame. Hopefully, it makes you feel like starting edamame farming as well.
1. Edamame is a young soybean
Edamame is an immature soybean in fact.
There are several soybean breeds that have been improved especially for having good edamame taste.
Harvest soybean when it's still green, then boil and salt. This is one of the standard styles to eat soybean in Japan.
It is said that grown soybeans lose some of the fine nutrition, such as amino acid, scorbutic acid, and reducing sugar. That's why we also eat immature soybean rather than mature one.
One more thing. Tofu and soy sauce are made of soybeans. How much Japanese love soybean products!
2. Nutrition
Edamame bean contains protein, dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, iron, and vitamin B1.
Edamame contains much more folic acid, vitamin C and Beta-carotene than mature soybean.
Edamame pods keep nutrition in beans without losing while being boiled in the water. Rich soy protein is contained in edamame as same as soy bean.
Several medical experts said that edamame and soybean lower cholesterol and may reduce disease risk.
3. Boil 3 minutes!
Ok, so how to cook edamame? It's very simple.
First, wash edamame with water. Cut edamame pods from its stems if needed. Boil 3 to 5 minutes, then drain the water and salt. That' all!
You don't need to put it into water after boiling. That will lose the taste.
Edamame beans are normally served in pods. We enjoy the style to eat edamame by taking beans out of pods.
4. Frozen edamame
Freshness is the key to enjoy edamame. After cooking edamame, keep it in the freezer to preserve.
This is the scientifically proven method to keep its nutrition as fresh as just boiled.
Recently, frozen edamame has been seen in supermarkets around the world. It's a modern style to enjoy edamame at home. Frozen edamame is ready to serve instantly in your kitchen. We also recommend to serve it on salad. Edamame adds nice color and taste.
Although some people like to eat cold edamame, majority of people eat edamame at normal temperature.
5. Enjoy it with beer
Edamame is the perfect companion to cold beer in a hot summer day. Edamame is a Japanese summer tradition.
Protein contained in edamame will help to resolve alcohol. To eat edamame with alcohol is not just a matter of personal taste, but it has a reason.
Sake–Japanese traditional alcohol made of rice–is another good companion with edamame we also recommend.
6. Edamame means stem and bean, literally
Edamame is written as "枝豆" in Japanese. It literally means "stem" and "bean". Edamame pods had been boiled with stems and leaves, and had been sold with stems in Edo era (1603–1868). That is why edamame has been called "stem" and "bean" since then. It's interesting to note that edamame was a "fast food" because people ate edamame by holding stems while walking in the street.
Edamame is such traditional food in Japan.
7. Edamame is everywhere in Japan
Edamame is used in various food, drink and snacks as ingredients. The flavor is subtle and natural. The light green color expresses young and fresh.
Edamame is a perfect ingredients in coleslaw. One of the new styles that emphasis those features is edamame smoothie. As we mentioned, edamame contains a lot of good nutrition.
As we mentioned earlier, edamame is a soybean. It contains protein and fine nutrition even better than soybeans. Edamame could be a replacement of soybeans even better.
Edamame is characterized in Japanese anime and cartoons. I found Japanese culture is full of edamame goods.
These are just a few examples how much Japanese like edamame.
Are we Japanese people obsessed with edamame?
8. Let's plant edamame!
Cannot get edamame in your local stores? Why not plant and grow edamame yourself?
Edamame has been becoming very popular in the world. It is one of the most popular Japanese food along with sushi, tofu and ramen.
Edamame is healthy like other Japanese food.
We, Japan Agri Trading have a several machines designed for planting and harvesting edamame.
Please check our edamame machines if you are interested in edamame farming. We recommend farmers around the world to start farming edamame now because edamame will become more popular all over the world soon.
We have a wide range of Japanese farm products from tractors to knives. Please check our Online store for more products.