Edamame / The World's Healthiest Snack
Created & Produced by John Daub
ONLY in JAPAN
Edamame
They're immature soy beans
usually boiled or steamed
a little salt
and I love them.
You can eat edamame frozen anytime
but between the end of June and the beginning of September
they’re harvest fresh
and available at all the Japanese supermarkets
and it’s by far my favourite summer snack
But what exactly are edamame?
Where do they come from and
how are the grown?
The name in Japanese gives you a clue
EDA means stem or branch
MAME means bean
To get the complete story I came to
Chiba prefecture near Tokyo to a city called Noda.
The best edamame are found nearby and
Chiba is very close to Tokyo,
known for great produce.
The middle of the prefecture is mostly farms
and beautiful flat countryside.
In the center of Noda is Yumeaguri Noda,
a produce coop –
and they sell some of the best edamame in town!
The store just opened and customers are quick to snag up
the morning’s fresh harvested edamame.
400 yen or about $4 get you 300 grams of right off the stem edamame.
Yumeaguri has several varieties of of Edamame –
that’s right! There are dozens of cultivars!
There are edamame products too like Edamame toufu.
See those edamame beans?
Edamame soda?
Yup – it’s green, sweet and slightly salty with a hint of edamame.
National snack brands also cash in on
the summer edamame craze!
Executive director of Yumeaguri Noda is Sekine-san
who was nice enough to show me his farm
to get a better understanding on how edamame are made
and what makes them so darn good.
We grabbed a wheel barrel and headed to his field out back.
Starting in April, he hand plants the edamame seeds
in the field where they start sprouting within a week.
Here they are after 2 weeks. No soy bean pods yet.
Sekine-san and I were after the immature soy beans
which were down this way.
His family harvests them fresh daily in the summer
from June to August when the weather is best
and they’re in season.
He’s got a fair sized field,
all hand planted which means a lot of long days here.
Edamame is probably Japan’s no.1 snack
especially in the summer
when it’s enjoyed with copious amounts of beer at izakaya,
rooftop gardens or in homes all over the country.
Edamame are immature beans so you have to harvest them early.
Not yet.
The thickness of the pod is still 4-5mm.
At harvest time. the thickness of the pod will be
10-12 millimeters
So they’re not ready yet.
So - next week?
Well, maybe the week after that.
So you’re probably wondering ー
What makes edamame so great?
Here are some facts.
Are Edamame Soy Beans? No!
Soy Beans are mature while Edamame are the immature soft version of them, thus the different name.
It’s called Edamame when still in the pod
and Mukimame when serves just as a bean.
Avoid Edamame that is yellowish or shrunken.
The pod should look plump and firm.
Edamame are usually boiled in salted water or steamed.
I prefer them unsalted though.
What makes them the perfect snack?
They’re high in fiber, calcium, amino acids, and a ton of minerals and vitamins.
Low is sugar and fat and almost no cholesterol.
Around Tokyo, Edamame are planted in April and harvested in June but different areas have different seasons.
Edamame must be eaten within 3 days
when harvested fresh so the best are always local.
They can last up to a year when frozen.
Most people eat them as an appetizer
Much healthier than french fries & potato chips!
The Japanese word Edamame entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003.
Don’t eat the pod! That’s just gross.
Eat the beans inside.
Do they grow on a tree or in the ground?
Let’s harvest some edamame with Sekine-san right now.
It’s not really that hard to harvest
Sekine-san just pulls them from the ground!
The plants are about 80-100 centimeters high.
When is edamame ready to be pulled?
Sekine-san explains.
This edamame pod
this plumpness means good and ready
the condition of the stem
the colour of the leaves
these are signs that
it’s ready to be harvested right away.
I was a little curious about how they taste raw like this.
I mean, we eat almost all vegetables raw in salads.
It can’t be bad, right?
The pods are hard to open
The beans are hard too when uncooked.
Hmmm … haha!
How is it?
It tastes different than the taste boiled, right?
Well, it just tastes like a raw vegetable
Just boil it really quick for a few minutes
Put it in boiling water - really hot
then cool it down in ice water
it will bring out the taste better
That’s right! It’ll get tastier!
So ー how do you eat edamame?
Here’s one.
I’ve been eating it the same way for years –
like a hamster
The salt is on the outside and
I like sucking it dry, typewritter the things out.
Was that odd?
Yeah, a little strange but no problem.
That’s how I eat it.
Here’s a demo on how some ladies eat Edamame in Japan.
Oh, you’re eating it differently!
Yeah, that’s how women often eat it
one bean at a time
Take a bean out and eat.
That’s the ladies way.
Sekine-san demonstrates how he eats it.
Just push it a little here
it comes out easily
He just holds it up like a harmonica and pops it in his mouth.
Give it a try!
Rub it in salt and then put it in boiling water
for 4 minutes
when finished, quickly put it in ice water
and this bright green colour will show
that’s the secret to eating delicious edamame
I wanted to know about when the different varieties of Edamame and how they’re grown.
There are many types like cha-mamae, aomame
but the one that is most grown in this region
is the Aomame variety
Of the Aomame, we produce this one called Aji-Fuka
Aji-Fuka is our main edamame crop now
After that we have to harvest ones depending
on the weather
The types of Edamame
there are also so many seed companies so
simply the number of seeds that
JA introduces to us is oner 50 kinds
Within those types, each farmer will choose
what’s suitable for their field
whether for taste or for the amount of harvest
so they will choose what to harvest
based on their needs
Naturally in February or March when it is cold,
edamame doesn’t grow well.
Farmers use plastic green houses or row covers
to keep them warm making edamame grow faster
Farms all over the country
From Hokkaido to Kyushu
there exists so many edamame farmers
in different regions
but here in Noda, it’s fairly warm
so here, you can plant the seeds in February
but places like Yamagata (in Tohoku)
famous for Da-da Chamame
Gunma for Tengu Mame - or Niigata
they plant after the snow has melted
which means planting is in May
and harvested in mif July to August
Vegetables are living things until eaten
so until then
you can preserve the quality and
taste of the beans
by doing it this way compared to separated pods
since the nutrients of the beans
are still on the stem
The packaging is important too
It’s see-through so customers can
see that it’s fresh
They're hand clipped and left on the stem
to preserve freshness and those vitamin
He’s been at it all day
The final product
ready for the local store or
refrigerated delivery to Tokyo
The Noda seal is important because
This city is THE HOME OF EDAMAME!
So that’s how Edamame are grown!
I thought they’d be grown underground like
a peanut - or up in a tree
but they’re just like any other bean
So that’s what a fresh edamame looks like
So if you come to Japan especially in the summer
Definitely try some edamame
If you're in the area come to Noda and have them fresh from the ground!
Next time I travel to Shiga prefecture
to try a local delacacy
it’s exotic and well — unique!
it’s 1 year old fermented FUNAZUSHI
with a reputation of being super sour
and stinking like cheese