Edamame Judgement

At the urging of my vegetarian daughter, this year I planted some garden soybeans (most of the seed suppliers that I tend to gravitate to usually refer to it as the fancier Japanese name of “soya”).

I opted for “Envy”, which is generally regarded as the fastest seed to harvest, of a moderate to good yield and pleasantly fresh tasting. Johnny’s soy page is here if anyone is interested in some of the choices out there these days.

To backtrack a bit, I don’t recall ever eating any sort of soybean directly before (yeah, I don’t get out much, too busy digging out back I guess). Around here, a lot of farmers do grow soybeans but my best estimate is that they tend to be the Monsanto roundup-ready GMO varieties that become feed for livestock, oil and what not. Only Japanese and trendy metropolitan types would even consider eating this cattle feed, right?

In reality I wasn’t quite that biased or ignorant, I just never stopped to consider that it could be a good small garden crop:
Anything grown in 100+ acre fields = commercial agriculture =needs hundreds of acres and a 70hp diesel tractor to produce, and soy was one of those, therefore nobody would grow it in a garden, right?

So how has the experiment gone so far? Very well actually.

A sample of the bounty in its basic prepared form: A bowl of edamame, boiled for 5-6 minutes, drained and salted:

Part of the original planting; I learned afterwards that (for some reason, ie: the usual brain poot) I planted these at about 1/6th of the density I could have (8 per linear foot is what is recommended).

We’ve eaten quite a bit using the basic edamame formula (5-6 minutes boiled or steamed then served warm in pods with sea salt sprinkled) and it has become quite habit forming. Additionally, I roasted some for a crunchier starter and this was well received by vegan, vegetarian and omnivore family members during our week on the coast.

The kicker though was the edamame hummus Mrs cohutt made this past Saturday. I was told several times that it was delicious (my quick sampling of the mix confirmed this but it was all devoured by mrs cohutt before I could sit down and truly evaluate it 😉 ).

I believe the recipe she used was this one from Two Healthy Kitchens.

The official verdict? Mrs cohutt so emphatically places it at the top of the list for next season that I’ve even planted a second late crop of Envy from seeds harvested from the first wave. (I am pretty sure the ease of shelling vs lima beans has something to do with mrs cohutt’s opinion as well.)

Next year, I think I’ll go with the “Butter Bean” variety listed at Johnny’s though for the purported higher yield and superior better taste vs “Envy”.

And so begins August behind the fence….