Ok Girls!! Here's a post you need to pay attention to.
Have any of you ever tried edamame? Now, we all know that I am no health food nut, so me touting the AMAZINGNESS of soybeans is not a normal occurrence. Chris and I first tried these at our FAVORITE restaurant - The Happy Sumo. They take the edamame, the young soybeans in the pod and steam them until warm, then sprinkle them with Kosher salt and serve. Every time we go to The Happy Sumo we'd see table after table after table of people popping these little guys, so we finally tried them. DELICIOUS! Absolutely, totally DELICIOUS! Shea could not get enough of them, he ate at least 1/2 the bowl himself. So, I finally made it to CostCo and got a huge bag for home, and I did a little research....
"The first written record of soybeans is almost 5000 years old! The Chinese have been cultivating the multi-use plant for thousands of years. It plays such an important role in China that soybeans are considered one of the five sacred grains, along with rice, wheat, barley, and millet.
Soybeans arrived in America in the early 1800s as ballast aboard a clipper ship from China. They were regarded as curiosities. Eventually, farmers who experimented with planting the beans found they flourished in hot, humid weather. By 1900, many farmers were growing the crop for forage. Americans were slow to catch on to the nutritional value of soybeans for human consumption. It wasn’t until the 1920s that soybeans gained popularity.
While most soy products are manufactured from dried soybeans, edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may) are a special type of large-seeded soybean bred to be eaten fresh. The fuzzy pods are harvested while still green and the edible portion is the bean seeds inside the pod. Their flavor is sweet, buttery, and slightly nutty.
Edamame traditionally are eaten as a snack or appetizer. Place them in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. The beans will be bright green. When cool enough to handle, remove the beans from the pods and sprinkle with a little salt. Edamame can also be steamed or microwaved. Cooked and lightly salted, they are a popular snack in Japan served with cold beer.
The popularity of this bean has grown in the past decade and is now easily found frozen in most major supermarkets. Edamame is something of a wonder vegetable because it is the only vegetable that contains all nine essential amino acids. This makes edamame a complete protein source, similar to meat or eggs. Edamame also contain isoflavones which are currently being studied for their potential to help stave off breast cancer, and for their positive effect on bone health."
So, not only are they the "Wonder" vegetable, sooooo incredibly healthy, they have a really low calorie count and are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I would rather eat a serving of these than any potato chip, popcorn or any other salty snack, hands down any day!! (I really, really love them. :-) But it's not just me. After I brought them home yesterday, I put them right on the stove to steam, I put in 2 cups of pods. A serving, since you only eat the beans, is 1 1/2 cups of pods, so I put in a serving and a little more because I was hoping Shea would eat a few. HE ATE THE ENTIRE BOWL! I think I got 4! I don't know if it's just that they are delicious, or that they're so fun to eat, but he LOVES them!!!
You should all try them, your kids will love them and you'll feel like SUPERMOM, that your kids are devouring "the wonder vegetable" with the relish heretofore reserved for only sickeningly-bad-for-them sweets!!!
Have any of you ever tried edamame? Now, we all know that I am no health food nut, so me touting the AMAZINGNESS of soybeans is not a normal occurrence. Chris and I first tried these at our FAVORITE restaurant - The Happy Sumo. They take the edamame, the young soybeans in the pod and steam them until warm, then sprinkle them with Kosher salt and serve. Every time we go to The Happy Sumo we'd see table after table after table of people popping these little guys, so we finally tried them. DELICIOUS! Absolutely, totally DELICIOUS! Shea could not get enough of them, he ate at least 1/2 the bowl himself. So, I finally made it to CostCo and got a huge bag for home, and I did a little research....
"The first written record of soybeans is almost 5000 years old! The Chinese have been cultivating the multi-use plant for thousands of years. It plays such an important role in China that soybeans are considered one of the five sacred grains, along with rice, wheat, barley, and millet.
Soybeans arrived in America in the early 1800s as ballast aboard a clipper ship from China. They were regarded as curiosities. Eventually, farmers who experimented with planting the beans found they flourished in hot, humid weather. By 1900, many farmers were growing the crop for forage. Americans were slow to catch on to the nutritional value of soybeans for human consumption. It wasn’t until the 1920s that soybeans gained popularity.
While most soy products are manufactured from dried soybeans, edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may) are a special type of large-seeded soybean bred to be eaten fresh. The fuzzy pods are harvested while still green and the edible portion is the bean seeds inside the pod. Their flavor is sweet, buttery, and slightly nutty.
Edamame traditionally are eaten as a snack or appetizer. Place them in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. The beans will be bright green. When cool enough to handle, remove the beans from the pods and sprinkle with a little salt. Edamame can also be steamed or microwaved. Cooked and lightly salted, they are a popular snack in Japan served with cold beer.
The popularity of this bean has grown in the past decade and is now easily found frozen in most major supermarkets. Edamame is something of a wonder vegetable because it is the only vegetable that contains all nine essential amino acids. This makes edamame a complete protein source, similar to meat or eggs. Edamame also contain isoflavones which are currently being studied for their potential to help stave off breast cancer, and for their positive effect on bone health."
So, not only are they the "Wonder" vegetable, sooooo incredibly healthy, they have a really low calorie count and are absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I would rather eat a serving of these than any potato chip, popcorn or any other salty snack, hands down any day!! (I really, really love them. :-) But it's not just me. After I brought them home yesterday, I put them right on the stove to steam, I put in 2 cups of pods. A serving, since you only eat the beans, is 1 1/2 cups of pods, so I put in a serving and a little more because I was hoping Shea would eat a few. HE ATE THE ENTIRE BOWL! I think I got 4! I don't know if it's just that they are delicious, or that they're so fun to eat, but he LOVES them!!!
You should all try them, your kids will love them and you'll feel like SUPERMOM, that your kids are devouring "the wonder vegetable" with the relish heretofore reserved for only sickeningly-bad-for-them sweets!!!
You've become a pawn of the soybean cartels!
ReplyDeleteI will have to try them. Maybe you can get some for the San Diego trip!! It was so good to talk to you today!! I miss you guys!!
ReplyDeleteYou had me at delicious :)
ReplyDeleteSo you take them out of the pods? Before or after cooking, did I miss that?
You steam them (in the pods) then salt them (in the pods) then pop them out of the pods to eat them.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy! :-)
How funny are you Jenna!?! I must agree with you. They are delicious. I haven't had them in a while and your post made me want to run to the store to get them. I used to add the salt to the water before it boiled so it would saturate the shell. Then I would suck all the salt water out of the shell as I was popping the beans into my mouth. It may have been a bit excessive but delicious none the less!!!
ReplyDeleteSuch cool info - - thanks for the research. What a fun post. I love you.
ReplyDeleteWhat?? We don't have to log in anymore. I had to hit the back button 4 times to make sure!! I finally posted more pictures!! Check my blog out!
ReplyDelete