If you’ve been enjoying edamame beans as a snack or a tasty addition to salads and pilafs, it might interest you to know that they are easy to grow and harvest in your own garden. Originating in Japan, edamame (pronounced “edda-MOMmy”) are nutritious edible soybeans that look like small round lima beans. They have soared in popularity in Japan as a snack – people take a sack of boiled and salted edamame with them as an easy, healthy pick-me-up. In the United States there is a growing demand, and these days edamame beans can be found in the freezer section of health food stores and many grocery stores.
There are several ways to obtain good quality seed beans for your edamame-growing project. Amazon sells 225-count packages of the “Bean Envy” variety of edamame beans, renowned for their shorter growing season and tolerance for cool temperatures. If you want to be frugal, send a letter or email to the National Soybean Research Laboratory in Illinois and ask to be a part of their promotional edamame bean program in the spring. When it’s time to plant the beans they will send you 4-5 packs of seed for free. Their email is [email protected] and the website is www.nsrl.illinois.edu . Simply do an online search for “edamame bean seeds” to find a long list of seed companies that sell different varieties. If you live where the growing season is short, consider varieties that have growing seasons of less than 80 days till maturity.
Edamame can be grown in the garden as easily as green beans. Be aware that soybeans are relatively slow-growers. While green beans flower and form pods in a matter of weeks, edamame soybeans take over a month to mature from bloom to harvest. Planted just after the last frost in the spring, you can expect to see tiny purple flowers bloom about mid-summer. Once the plants flower, pods form slowly and mature over the next 4-5 weeks. When the leaves are just starting to turn yellow and the pods are filling up nicely, it’s time to pick them.
The accepted way to store edamame is to blanch the pods and freeze them (pods and all). Drain them well on a towel after blanching in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Freeze in ziplock bags. When you’re ready to use them, boil them again for a couple of minutes, let cool to touch, and pop the beans out of the pods (they pop out easily once boiled).
Here are a couple of great-tasting, easy recipes for salads using edamame beans:
- Quinoa Salad: Cook 1 cup dry quinoa in 2 cups water according to instructions. Fluff with fork, cool in refrigerator. When cooled, add: 1 cup edamame beans, ½ cup dried cranberries, ½ cup diced red pepper, ½ cup chick peas and ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar. Toss well, chill until serving time.
- Black Bean, Barley and Corn Salad:
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed well
1/2 sweet onion (red or white), diced fine
1 red or orange bell pepper, diced (or mix the colors)
2 gloves pressed garlic OR 1 tblsp garlic powder
1 small pkg frozen corn kernels
1 cup fresh edamame beans (can find frozen)
about 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cooked and cooled barley (I rinse it under cold water after cooking it)
2-3 T olive oil
2-3 T white balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Mix well and refrigerate several hours before serving.
Plan now to include a row or two of delicious, nutritious edamame edible soybeans in your garden next spring!
