Soybean
Glycine max
A protein-and-oil pulse. Edamame is the immature green seed; tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and soy protein isolate are increasingly processed forms — not equivalent foods.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: edamame (immature)
What it is
A protein-and-oil pulse. Edamame is the immature green seed; tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and soy protein isolate are increasingly processed forms — not equivalent foods.
Edible portions
- immature green seeds
- mature seeds after cooking
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Warm season
- Light. Full sun, heat
- Soil. Average, inoculated
- Planting. Direct-sow in warm soil. Day-length sensitive cultivars.
- Harvest. Edamame when pods are filled and green; dry beans when pods brown.
Processing, drying, storage
- Processing. GROW → HARVEST (edamame) or DRY seed → soak/cook → optional ferment (tempeh, miso) → optional isolate powders.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Edamame in the pod
- Tofu/tempeh are Make/industry steps
Nutrition and compounds
- Minerals (qualitative). iron, calcium (especially tofu set with calcium), protein, magnesium — look up current USDA FoodData Central entries for numbers.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.