edamame

[torakris]

I love edamame, they are really the perfect snack!

and this is the problem, since I see them as a snack I rarely use them in cooking.

what do you like to do with edamame?

[tejon]

I eat them as a snack, too - waiting to hear other ideas.

[Mark Sommelier]

The problem is, you have to eat a freakin' lot of them to make a proper snack.

[torakris]

I made them into a cold soup once

and tossed them into some fried rice.........

others...........?

[tommy]

i use them anywhere that i can add a green bean-like thing. i like them with fish for some reason.

[NVNVGirl]

i use them anywhere that i can add a green bean-like thing.  i like them with fish for some reason.

Yeah, what tommy said! I just did a salmon edamame pasta salad that rocked. But my favorite way to eat them is still just boiled with kosher salt........

[torakris]

it is that time of year again!!

[jbonne]

what do you like to do with edamame?

i've seen several places here in Seattle do a cold edamame salad. the flavoring didn't quite work for me (too much sugar, not enough vinegar) but it was a decent concept.

i figure you could also sub them out for certain requirements for fava beans, if you wanted to experiment. but it's hard to beat them boiled-and-salted.

[mags]

Well, I got taken for dinner to a pricey boite that I didn't like much, EXCEPT for the smoked edemame in butter sauce, which was pretty much the side-dish of my fantasies. I keep meaning to write to the restaurant and ask for the recipe.

[tissue]

My friend made them into a puree with some garlic and evoo and we used it as a dip.

[adoxograph]

I'll use them as a tofu substitute in vegetarian stir-fry, and I have a bruschetta recipe that uses fava beans that I've been meaning to use edamame for, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Snacking is the best, though. I'll even eat the pods. :)

[bloviatrix]

After eating several pounds of edamame straight, I'll make a big bean salad comprised of green and yellow beans, roma beans, kidneys, chickpeas, and edamame (and whatever other beans look good) with a garlicy vinagrette.

[jbonne]

that sounds way better than the versions i've seen attempted. the vinaigrette alone would save it.

next time i'm shopping in the International District here, i should pick up some pre-shelled edamame (sheer brilliance!!) and use them straightaway for a salad.

[smallworld]

Where does the edamame sold in North America come from? Is it available fresh?

The frozen edamame I've had back home in Canada was good enough for a substitute, but it just doesn't compare to fresh edamame. In Japan fresh edamame is usually domestically grown, as opposed to other forms of soybeans, which apparently mostly come from the US or China. Last night I had edamame grown just a block away from my house- doesn't get any better than that.

But I've never seen fresh edamame back in Canada. I remember asking once in a Japanese market in Toronto, and being told that it was the wrong season (this was early summer). Which didn't make sense, since I'm pretty sure soybeans are now grown all year in parts of the States. So does that mean that the edamame sold in North America comes all the way from Japan?

[jbonne]

Where does the edamame sold in North America come from? Is it available fresh?

The frozen edamame I've had back home in Canada was good enough for a substitute, but it just doesn't compare to fresh edamame. In Japan fresh edamame is usually domestically grown, as opposed to other forms of soybeans, which apparently mostly come from the US or China. Last night I had edamame grown just a block away from my house- doesn't get any better than that.

But I've never seen fresh edamame back in Canada. I remember asking once in a Japanese market in Toronto, and being told that it was the wrong season (this was early summer). Which didn't make sense, since I'm pretty sure soybeans are now grown all year in parts of the States. So does that mean that the edamame sold in North America comes all the way from Japan?

i can't speak more broadly, but most of the frozen i've seen is imported from Japan. don't recall ever seeing fresh edamame in the States, but it's been a while since i looked.

i'll take a peek next time i'm out shopping in the Japanese groceries ...

[bloviatrix]

I get them fresh at the greenmarket. In NY they tend to be available in Aug/Sept.

[mags]

I get them fresh at the greenmarket. In NY they tend to be available in Aug/Sept.

From the Korean ladies who also have the great kimchi and the wonderful "spicy mix" salad? I need me some spicy mix.

[Hiroyuki]

Are chamame available in countries other than Japan?

They are the best variety of edamame.

For those of you who are not familiar with them, visit the following sites:

http://ytoshi.cool.ne.jp/best_friends32/st...me/chamame1.htm

http://www.pref.niigata.jp/sougouseisaku/k...ricultural.html

As you can see, chamame are a specialty of Niigata prefecture.

[ComeUndone]

In Northern Chinese and Taiwainese cooking, shelled edamame is sauted with a particular type of pickled vegetable, garlic, and/or bamboo shoot. The dish can be served hot or chilled. One of my favourite dishes.

[torakris]

Comeundone's post reminded me of a recipe I had seen for "Chinese" style edamame in which the edamame are boiled with a star anise and then eaten as you would regular edamame. I still haven't tried it yet but it sounds quite good.

[Mayhaw Man]

I eat them boiled in a little salted water until they are just done. Never had them any other way, except occasionally my wife will throw them (hulled) into a salad.

I love those little devils.

It's funny. I grew up IN A BEANFIELD. Not near one. In one. Except when it was cotton, it was soybeans. There are several million acres of them in the Delta at any given time and until I saw them in Sushi places in New Orleans in the mid 80's it had never occurred to me that people ate them straight out of the hull. I always thought that we were growing them as additives and fillers and so forth, never as straight up food. I don't know why this is, as in the Southern United States beans and peas are a very large part of the traditional diet and we eat about every kind that can be grown.

Very strange, that no eating soybean thing.

[helenjp]

I've seen edamame in chirashi-zushi.

You can also wiggle them out of their papery skins and mash them to make a zunda-ae dressing (savory for veg, sweet for rice dumplings).

I finally figured out how to get the salt to stick to the pods (duh!). I boil them in salted water, of course, then drain them and immediately put them into a big bowl with coarse salt in it and mix them thoroughly before all the moisture has evaporated off the pods. That way, you get a nice "salt jolt" as you suck the beans out of the pod!

[jhlurie]

I love edamame, they are really the perfect snack!

and this is the problem, since I see them as a snack I rarely use them in cooking.

what do you like to do with edamame?

Edamame rule! Really, I have problems sometimes believing the amazing variance of soybeans. I mean... all of those stupid farmers being bribed by the U.S. Government to grow corn in order to get corn syrup to put into all of the U.S.'s crappy mass-produced food should really be growing soybeans instead. If you go to Kansas and look around at the endless miles of corn stalks, you'll even spot the occasional soybean field.

Does Japan grow all of it's own soybean supply?

[Mayhaw Man]

Actually, the two crops are about equal in terms of total acreage.

In 2003, according to the USDA there were 79 million acres of corn planted and 73.2 million acres of Soybeans.

That's still a shitload of grain and beans, when you think about it. For example, cotton will only have about 14.5 million acres planted.

[Hiroyuki]

Does Japan grow all of it's own soybean supply?

According to one site, almost all frozen edamame come from China and Taiwan.

I bought fresh chamame (a type of edamame) grown in Taiwan the other day. They tasted much better than I thought.