HelpfulGardener.com

I got out in the garden and pulled all the plants in a 30+ ft. double planted row of soybeans and wound up with a 5 gallon bucket full and I weighed it just to see how much that came to and it was 24.4 lbs. of soybeans.

I'll be sure to give them a thorough washing tomorrow while my big pot gets up to a boil so I can blanch them for storing in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer for munching on during the year.

I plant that size row every spring to get the soybeans that will last me much of the year for the wife and I to snack on when the urge hits.

At first it looked like I would not get much with me having to plant them 2 times due to lack of germination with the first bunch of seeds I put down. The second sowing did the trick and just about every see put in the garden came up and we had more than ample rainfall during the early and mid spring months to help them along. I probably averages in the upper teens per plant in bean production with most of them being 3 beans per pod.

Congratulations, Gumbo2176!

A dozen years ago, I hadn't even heard of edamame. Some other soy products, I knew about and liked. About then, I began trying to grow soybeans. This is not soybean country. I don't know of a single field of them for 100 miles distance - even tho, dry peas, lentils and chickpeas are grown commercially.

My soybeans have had a struggle over the years. In one garden, I tried 4 different varieties and it came down to 1 that consistently did well for about 4 years. Then, I no longer gardened on that ground and, dang it! They performed poorly in their new location and soil.

I'm still trying because edamame is a favorite snack . Two new trial varieties in recent years. I will have more row feet of soybeans this year than before because ... I'm optimistic! The seed hasn't all gone in here in this higher altitude, higher latitude part of the world. Still time to catch up !

Steve

Ha! Your harvesting them @Gumbo, and I am just now thinking I wanted to plant some. They need good hot days and takes about 2-1/2 months. But there are different varieties and some will mature earlier and some later.

I was looking for the “latest” varieties that Japanese market farmer was demonstrating starting about a week ago, but I’m not seeing it as available here. It’s Almost too late for me to try to source new seeds, and in any case, I believe I still have some that I should use up. I’m going to start them in little pots or cell trays in the hoop house then plant probably with the eggplants and peppers.

applestar wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Ha! Your harvesting them @Gumbo, and I am just now thinking I wanted to plant some. They need good hot days and takes about 2-1/2 months. But there are different varieties and some will mature earlier and some later.

I was looking for the “latest” varieties that Japanese market farmer was demonstrating starting about a week ago, but I’m not seeing it as available here. It’s Almost too late for me to try to source new seeds, and in any case, I believe I still have some that I should use up. I’m going to start them in little pots or cell trays in the hoop house then plant probably with the eggplants and peppers.

I put my soybeans seeds direct sown back in March, along with some already started eggplant in 2 varieties, Ichiban and Black Beauty. At the same time I planted pepper plants in Bell, Jalapeno, Ghost and Habanero. I've picked enough eggplants to make the base for my Eggplant/Shrimp/Cheese Casserole and have a few now to grill this weekend and have picked several bell peppers I use to season dishes. However, the hot peppers are just now starting to show small fruit on the Jalapenos and just flowers on the Ghost and Habanero so far. They will really take off when it gets hotter and I'm expecting a pretty big harvest this summer for making my pepper jelly, hot sauces, pickled peppers and drying some for pepper flakes. Plus giving a bunch away since there is no way I could possibly use all the bushes produce.

That said, my garden will be fading as yours is coming on like gangbusters and I'll only be picking okra, cucumbers, eggplant and some pole beans.

I only heard of edamame a few years ago when I went to a lecture on nutrition and the speaker who was from the mainland said we could get edamame frozen from places like safeway. We have always eaten soy beans fresh. Boiled with a little salt like peanuts. There is edamame at Costco as well. It has become trendy. For us growing up it was considered a snack food.

You can make tofu with soy beans as well. It only has a few ingredients but it is hard work.

And, I've gone that tofu route as well, Imafan.

Tofu isn't a favorite but I like it and if DW went more for it, I'd be happy to have more tofu in our diet. Marinate - it really adds flavors that you enjoy but homemade, it has more flavor than some of what is in the supermarket to begin with.

It was quite a bit of bother start to finish and I think we only did it twice. But, I can imagine establishing a habit of tofu making ... becoming accustomed to putting the food processor through some real work, understanding just how to do the stirring in of the vinegar, tolerating a cheese cloth bag, dripping over the kitchen sink, etc. etc.

Steve

The tofuya, was run by one person. His 90 year old mother helped him in the morning. The soy beans are soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker in the morning. Then it went through a grinder and sieve and the whey was poured into large square metal containers. Calcium is added to cause the soy milk to gel. After it sets, he cuts it into squares for packaging. The waste of the process called Okara, insoluble parts of the soy. The Okara are packed into bread bags and sold for about $2.50. The okara is cooked with other vegetables as a side dish. The shop is closed now as the owner retired and none of the family members wanted to take over the business. He did stay open a year longer because another tofu factory had closed and that left a hole in the market, it was especially hard to get aburage (fried tofu pocket) to make sushi.

I like tofu steak. You have to get the extra firm tofu and drain it well, pat it dry. I coated it with cornstarch and fried it in oil. You have to be patient if you try to turn it too soon, it will break up. Then you dip the tofu steak (1/4 of a tofu block about 3/4 inch thick) in teriyaki sauce (already cooked and thickened) or you can cook the fried tofu in a teriyaki sauce you make in the pan.

The easiest way to eat it is just to cut the tofu in small bite sized blocks. Top it with some green onions and shoyu. Some people will add some sesame oil and salt, but the shoyu has enough salt for me. It is a cold side dish.

Otherwise I use tofu in pork tofu or sukiyaki.

The shelf stable silken tofu does not work well since it tastes more powdery and is softer so it breaks up more.