Description

Bean ‘Soy’, or ‘Soya’, which is a native of East Asia, is a bush bean variety to 80cm, which may need staking. Plants have multiple branches. The green, furry pods are not edible. Bean seeds must be cooked and shelled before eating. Soybeans are highly nutritious, high in fibre and protein. They can be steamed or boiled, fermented for soy sauce or made into soy milk, soy flour or tofu. Edamame is made by boiling immature green soybeans in salted water. Soybeans also make an excellent green manure crop.
Soybeans are a completely different genus to green beans, snake beans and/or runner beans and therefore cannot cross-pollinate. Even if collecting seed, feel free to grow one or more different types of bean with soybeans. Be sure to check the Latin name of other beans – those with the same Latin name can be cross-pollinated.