Soybeans & Edamame

Glycine max
part of: Soybean

Soybeans are one of the most versatile and protein-dense legumes in the world. Mature dried soybeans have a firm texture and mild, slightly nutty flavour, and they’re used in stews, soups, and salads or sprouted for stir-fries. Edamame — young soybeans harvested while still green — are a popular snack and appetiser, typically boiled or steamed in the pod and seasoned with salt.

In Australian kitchens, edamame is by far the more common whole-soybean product, found in the frozen section of most supermarkets. Dried mature soybeans are less commonly cooked at home but are available in health food stores and Asian grocers. They require long soaking and cooking times compared to other legumes.

Beyond eating whole, soybeans are the starting material for an enormous range of products — tofu, tempeh, soy milk, soy sauce, miso, soybean oil, and soy flour among them. As a crop, soybeans are one of the most widely grown and traded commodities globally.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

Safety

  • › Toxicity: Contains trypsin inhibitors. Requires preparation.

How it's made

Soybeans are grown as an annual crop, planted in spring and harvested in autumn. For edamame, the pods are picked while still green and immature, then quickly blanched and frozen to preserve freshness. For mature soybeans, the plants are left to dry in the field before the pods are mechanically harvested and threshed. The dried beans are cleaned, graded, and packaged. Both forms require cooking before eating — edamame is typically boiled for a few minutes, while dried soybeans need overnight soaking followed by an hour or more of simmering.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 447kcal
Protein 36.5g
Carbs 20.9g
Fat 19.9g
Fibre 9.3g Sugar 7.3g
Mass Distribution

1 cup is about 186 g — roughly 830 kcal of this.

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon 6.31kg
Freshwater 415.01L
Land 10.51m²

Where it comes from

In the kitchen

Used as

protein centerpiece

Goes well with
garlic ginger sesame miso scallion
Classic dishes
  • edamame
  • soy milk
  • tofu
  • tofu skin
  • soy sauce
  • fermented bean paste
  • natto
  • tempeh
  • miso
  • kinako
  • doenjang
  • cheonggukjang
  • ganjang
  • textured vegetable protein
  • hummus

Keeping one at home? Track yours in your cubud →

Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

USDA

How it was calculated

SR Legacy

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

made fromSoybean, seeds goes well withgarlic goes well withginger goes well withsesame goes well withmiso goes well withscallion shares a sourceHot and Sour Soup shares a sourceMeat Alternatives shares a sourceSoy & Peanut Oils shares a sourceSoy Milk & Dairy Alternatives shares a sourceSoy Sauce & Fermented Pastes shares a sourceTofu
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