Edamame (green soy bean) 2014/07/18

Since Washoku (Japanese cuisine) was registered in World Cultural Heritage in December 2013, it is getting more popular among the world as beautiful, tasty and healthy cuisine.

According to Google, edamame (green soy bean) occupies the second highest popularity after Sushi in the world search ranking for Washoku.

 

Soy bean originated in China and came to Japan more than 2000 years ago. In the long history of Japanese food culture, soy bean has been processed and cultivated into bean taste and soy bean sauce, both of them are indispensable seasoning for Washoku. Soy bean also has been processed into soybean curd or fermented soybeans, both are basic and regular foods for Washoku.

 

They also developed a particular type of soy bean which is suitable to be picked and eaten when it is still young and green. Such type of soy bean is called as edamame which also has long history of more than 1000 years.

 

There are varieties of cooking methods of edamame, however the most popular cooking among Japanese is just boiling fresh green edamame with salt. It is a simple cooking but extremely tasty, especially when you take it with cold beer or cooled Sake in hot and sticky summer evening.

 

One of the important features of Washoku culture is to enjoy the taste of fresh seasonal material without spoiling original taste. In Japan, July is the best season for boiled edamame with salt.

edamame_01

Boiled edamame (kinnikuya.blogspot.com)