For soy in diet, get back to basic bean

[Guest guest]

This is a really interesting article. I was wondering if any of you guys

had experience with the green soybean? More recipes?

Melody

 

 

For soy in diet, get back to basic bean

By Joyce Rosencrans, Post staff reporter

 

Americans are serious about soy these days, due to the heart and

cancer protection afforded by the little beans. The health benefits

and tastiness of soybeans and their many food forms have been touted

recently in magazines as diverse as Family Circle and Woman's Day to

Vegetarian Times and Supermarket Gourmet.

 

But don't recoil if you're thinking of bland white blocks of tofu or

textured vegetable protein in bad meatloaf.

 

It turns out I'm much more fond of unprocessed soybeans, the beans

themselves. At a Wilmington, Ohio, soybean farm I had the fall cash

crop fixed as dried beans, baked in the traditional molasses-ketchup

sauce. Delicious, though quite a bit of trouble. After all, how many

folks make baked beans from scratch very often?

 

Then I discovered soy nuts. Love 'em. Soy nuts are a dainty,

neat-to-eat, crunchy snack that reminds some people of dry-roasted

peanuts. I like them better than that, preferring my peanuts

oil-roasted because they have no more calories or fat than

dry-roasted anyway. I also need salt on peanuts, but not so with soy

nuts. The last snack-pack I purchased was from Westley, Calif. - Just

Soy Nuts, ''dry-roasted soybeans and that's all'' (no salt), $1.09

for 2 ounces. I could've eaten them all at one sitting.

 

Then there's soy flour. What a wonderful white powder; a mere

half-cup per recipe gives a protein and health boost to otherwise

sweet and refined-flour baked goods. I've tried a dab of soy flour in

home-baked bar cookies and flatbread or pizza crust. This wondrous

stuff does not change the flavor of all-purpose flour, but soy flour

keeps baked goods so moist you dare not add more than a half-cup to

most recipes.

 

My favorite form of all - and the current hot food trend - is the

immature, green soybean. They're not at all like baby limas, though

they're about that size. Green soybeans, sometimes called ''sweet

beans,'' are more plump and narrow than baby green lima beans.

Neither are they mushy like other beans, but slick inside the tender

hulls and mild-flavored, much like the youngest of all high-quality

springtime garden peas.

 

The March issue of Better Homes and Gardens calls edamame the

''Wonder Bean.'' This form of green soybeans, pronounced

ED-uh-MAH-mee, are immature, green soybeans in-the-pod. These are

often served up at sushi bars and Thai restaurants all over the

country - in Cincinnati, too.

 

But they're not quite in such great demand yet that supermarkets have

them in obvious places, such as on salad bars or alongside broccoli

in produce departments. You may find green soybeans still in their

pods among exotic-vegetable displays. These would likely be fresh,

refrigerated pods packaged in tubs by Frieda's, a specialty produce

wholesaler in California.

 

But I simply buy green soybeans frozen, either in or out of their

small, green pods. One source is Cincinnati Natural Foods stores; I

found all the soy products mentioned at the Madeira location,

including chilled pint-containers of soy coffee creamer, alongside

quarts of flavored soy milks. Soy milks are mainstream by now, easily

available alongside fresh dairy milks.

 

A clerk at the natural-foods store told me that customers buy all the

green soybeans they can get. ''They clean us out.''

 

I was lucky to nab a polybag of frozen Hearty Edamame Soybeans. The

label says: ''the green vegetable soybean snack in the pod,'' 12

ounces, $2.09, ''does not contain genetically modified organisms.''

 

Cooking is simply a matter of plunging the bean pods into boiling

water. Cook to a second boil for 2 to 5 minutes. Drain, cool, serve.

They may also be steamed or microwaved, as can beans without their

pods.

 

Label eating instructions: Take soybean pod by the stem, place pod

between teeth, strip soybeans from the pod with your teeth and

discard empty pods.

 

I have a quibble about this. The outside of the small pods are

faintly fuzzy, like the brown skin of kiwifruit. It's not pleasant to

the tongue. I ended up shelling the pods with my fingers, easy to do.

 

This could revolutionize TV snacking. What diet doctor or

conscientious mother could complain about kids snacking on green

soybeans? Edamame to edify mommy!

 

A few vegetable blends contain green soybeans or sweet beans. I once

tried a Green Giant broccoli blend with sweet beans, but haven't

located it at the supermarket lately. This week, I found frozen

polybags of nothing-but sweet beans, as well as Sno Pac Soycutash

(10-ounce box, $3.19) at the Madeira natural-foods store. This is

ablend of green soybeans, sweet corn and a few specks of sweet red

peppers (not enough for the price). It's packed in Caledonia, Minn by

a pioneering organic company.

 

Here are some favorite recipes using soy flour, green soy beans and

Veggy Parmesan, a cheese alternative made from organic tofu, 4

ounces, $2.89 at Cincinnati Natural Foods. You'll find larger jars of

this in the organic sections of Kroger produce departments. The

grated Parmesan look-alike was first recommended to me at a cooking

demonstration by the ''Cooking Cardiologist.''

 

Soybeans have long been recognized as the only bean containing

complete protein, offering all nine amino acids, which are the

building blocks of protein. This is why some vegetarians and Seventh

Day Adventists were generally the first Americans to include a lot of

soy foods in their no-meat diets.But newer revelations about soybeans

are attracting the crowds of buyers. Here's a health summary

according to materials from soybean associations in Ohio, Indiana and

Illinois:

 

Soy foods lower blood cholesterol and risk of heart disease. Even

individuals with blood cholesterol in normal ranges showed a

cholesterol-lowering effect in a 1995 analysis of major research

studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

Cancer-fighting components in soybeans have been shown in many

epidemiological, or observational, studies of people who consume soy

foods on a regular basis. Whole soybeans, tofu, soy flour, soymilk

and tempeh are thought to be very effective.

 

Menopausal symptoms may be eased for women who consume the dietary

phytoestrogens of soy.

 

Osteoporosis and the onset of age-related bone loss appear to be

helped by soy foods rich in calcium, such as soy flour, beans and

tofu.

 

@@@@@

Soybean and Corn Salad

 

1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

2 cups green soybeans, cooked, drained

1 (15-oz.) can black beans, rinsed, drained

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 tomato, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro or parsley

3/4 cup low-fat Italian salad dressing

Soy Parmesan alternative cheese

 

Yield: 8 servings

Prep time: Chill several hours or overnight

 

Combine all vegetables and the herb in a glass or enamel mixing bowl.

Pour on dressing and stir. Cover and chill; keeps up to one week. Top

each serving with grated soy ''Parmesan.''

 

Recipe from Illinois Soybean Association .

 

Publication date: 03-15-00 in the Cincinnati Post

 

@@@@@

Soyful Focaccia

 

1 package rapid-rise dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan or soy alternative

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/4 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup soy flour

Additional grated Parmesan

 

Yield: 6 servings

 

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, stirring. Set aside. Place

1/4 cup Parmesan, salt, garlic powder, herbs and both flours into a

food processor. Mix to blend. With processor running, slowly pour

yeast mixture down the feed tube, about 45 seconds or until dough

ball forms. Place the sticky dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat

the dough. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes.

 

Punch down. Have oven at 375 degrees. Roll out on a floured board to

form a 12-inch circle and place on a pizza stone or pan. Brush with

oil (may be olive oil). Let rise 15 minutes. Bake at 375 for 18-20

minutes. Sprinkle with more cheese and top with slivers of bell

peppers or onion and chopped herbs, if desired. Return to oven 3

minutes. Cut wedges to serve.

 

Recipe from the Ohio Soybean Council.

 

Publication date: 03-15-00 in the Cincinnati Post

_____

 

--

For world recipes in MasterCook format:

Subscribe - EthnicRegionalMCook- or

//EthnicRegionalMCook

[Guest guest]

Thanks Melody for the soybean information. We love sweet beans and are

eating a lot of them--they are sort of our comfort food right now. We

either buy them by the bag from the frozen natural section of our grocery

store (Cub) or we buy the Birdseye Baby Broccoli mix which has sweet

beans. We steam them. Then I mix the whole bag with a sauce made of 1.5

tablespoons of Dijon mustard and honey. Yumm. Had them for dinner tonight.

 

Does anyone have the March article in Better Homes and Gardens? Did it

come with veggie recipes that someone can share?????

 

Kathleen

[Guest guest]

> Does anyone have the March article in Better Homes and Gardens? Did it

> come with veggie recipes that someone can share?????

This is from the March, 2000 Better Homes and Gardens. No other recipes

given.

 

" Green soybeans are easy to prepare. Boil or steam them in their pods for

5 - 10 minutes until tender. Sprinkle with salt; if desired. Then peel and

eat them like peanuts. Or, after popping them form the pods, stir the beans

into soups, casseroles , or salads. (We suggest cooking the hard pods before

attempting to remove the beans.) "

 

It says the green soybeans in pods are called endamame (ay-dah-MAH-may) and

that if you can't find them fresh to look in the freezer aisle.

 

Gina