Edamame in the garden are flavourful and easy to grow

Move over, tempeh, tofu, miso, soy sauce, soy milk and other processed soy foods. Make way for edamame.

This is the soybean in its most primitive state — picked young and green, steamed or boiled for five minutes, then popped out of the pod right into your mouth.

With high-quality protein, phytoestrogens, and a good dose of calcium and vitamin A, soybeans have always garnered high praise as a nutritional powerhouse. Generally though, the taste of dry (mature) soybeans — either nondescript in processed foods or left more to itself — leaves something to be desired. Boiled soybeans have a flavour and waxy texture that many people find unpleasant. And tofu is most esteemed for its ability to pick up other flavours.

Edamame, on the other hand, are delectable in their own right, combining the best of garden peas and lima beans in both flavour and texture. your county Cooperative Extension office for that date if you don’t know it.)

Do get your seeds now, though. A number of varieties are available, differing slightly in flavour and in how long it takes before the beans are ready for harvest. My favourite variety is Shirofumi, but I also like Envy and Butterbean.

When it’s time to plant, sow the seeds an inch deep in rows 15 to 30 inches apart.

The best-quality edamame demand timely harvest. Picked prematurely, the pods yield scrawny beans of bland flavour; picked too late and the pods are too far on their way to becoming dry, mature soybeans.

Harvest edamame pods when the beans within are fully plump, and before the bright green pods begin to yellow. I pick ripe pods over the course of a couple of weeks or so, but some gardeners wait until the bulk of the pods are ready for harvest, then pull the plants and strip off the pods in the comfort of a shaded chair.

If plants yield more than you can eat, freeze excess for later use. The five-minute steaming or boiling that readies pods for fresh eating also readies them, once cooled, for the freezer. ___ http://www.leereich.com/bl og

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