can I eat boiled but otherwise unprocessed (e.g., unfermented) soybeans?
February 1, 2019 8:44 PM Subscribe
Someone claimed that soybeans had to be fermented or otherwise processed in order to make them digestible. And indeed many sources indicate that soybeans contain anti-nutrients like phytic acid and Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor. I don't know how much this matters. Do I need to process my soybeans in some unusual way to get adequate nutrition out of them?
Usually, I either soak them in cool water overnight or quick-soak them for an hour in boiling-hot water, pour off the water, and smush them until they split apart and the hulls fall off, and then pressure-cook the split, hulled beans until tender.
If the additional processing were as easy, e.g., soaking with some vinegar or extra long soaking, I could do that. If I had to make tempeh, I'd probably just eat a different bean.
Usually, I either soak them in cool water overnight or quick-soak them for an hour in boiling-hot water, pour off the water, and smush them until they split apart and the hulls fall off, and then pressure-cook the split, hulled beans until tender.
If the additional processing were as easy, e.g., soaking with some vinegar or extra long soaking, I could do that. If I had to make tempeh, I'd probably just eat a different bean.
A little confused...Boiled soybeans = edamame. I don't know if they could sustain life all on their own, but they're certainly digestible.
posted by praemunire at 8:57 PM on February 1, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 8:57 PM on February 1, 2019 [7 favorites]
A number of Asian cuisines include steamed soybeans in the pod, so obviously not processed in any complicated way. If people aren't keeling over in Shanghai, I think you're probably fine.
My bet is that what you're hearing is sorta woo, and that a lot of foods contain "anti-nutrients" in small quantities but we don't really think about it and it doesn't matter to anyone who isn't sensitive to a particular substance.
IME, there's a lot of weird gendered and orientalist anxiety about soybeans in the US which leads to scientific-sounding critiques of soybean consumption that aren't really based on actual concerns.
posted by Frowner at 6:00 AM on February 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
My bet is that what you're hearing is sorta woo, and that a lot of foods contain "anti-nutrients" in small quantities but we don't really think about it and it doesn't matter to anyone who isn't sensitive to a particular substance.
IME, there's a lot of weird gendered and orientalist anxiety about soybeans in the US which leads to scientific-sounding critiques of soybean consumption that aren't really based on actual concerns.
posted by Frowner at 6:00 AM on February 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Boiled soybeans = edamame. I don't know if they could sustain life all on their own, but they're certainly digestible.
Edamame are specifically immature soybeans. It sounds like the OP is talking about mature dried soybeans instead, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:04 AM on February 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
Edamame are specifically immature soybeans. It sounds like the OP is talking about mature dried soybeans instead, and I'm not sure if that makes a difference.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:04 AM on February 2, 2019 [5 favorites]
So I looked up a bunch of basic recipes for soy milk and tofu from Asian cooking blogs, and they all start with dry soybeans that get a soak. I also looked at a number of recipes from hippie blogs in general. All start with dry soybeans and don't ferment or anything. My feeling is that since people have been eating soy products for a long time, in fairly large quantities, and since we know that places like, eg, Japan tended to have better diet-linked health outcomes prior to the adaptation of meat-heavy, wheat-heavy diets, it's probably not worth worrying about any anti-nutrients unless you have specific health concerns.
As I understand it, fermented soy products have some improved nutrition, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with non-fermented ones.
posted by Frowner at 6:52 AM on February 2, 2019
As I understand it, fermented soy products have some improved nutrition, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with non-fermented ones.
posted by Frowner at 6:52 AM on February 2, 2019
Someone claimed that soybeans had to be fermented or otherwise processed in order to make them digestible.
The trite answer to this is that everything needs to be fermented or otherwise processed in order to make them digestible. The more work you do in the factory or in the kitchen, the less work your digestive system needs to do.
At the root of everything is that the reason plants are edible is that they're storing those nutrients for their own use. And they have to leave those nutrients locked away from thieves like us (and all animals), but they have to be able to get to it themselves. So there's this arms race that we're in where we have digestive systems to extract the nutrients and the plants store their nutrients as locked away as they can.
I don't think that there's much evidence that soya has anything that other beans don't have, and it doesn't have the PHA which makes it so important to boil kidney beans for 10 minutes, so yes, they're at least as safe to eat once boiled as any other beans are.
posted by ambrosen at 9:50 AM on February 2, 2019
The trite answer to this is that everything needs to be fermented or otherwise processed in order to make them digestible. The more work you do in the factory or in the kitchen, the less work your digestive system needs to do.
At the root of everything is that the reason plants are edible is that they're storing those nutrients for their own use. And they have to leave those nutrients locked away from thieves like us (and all animals), but they have to be able to get to it themselves. So there's this arms race that we're in where we have digestive systems to extract the nutrients and the plants store their nutrients as locked away as they can.
I don't think that there's much evidence that soya has anything that other beans don't have, and it doesn't have the PHA which makes it so important to boil kidney beans for 10 minutes, so yes, they're at least as safe to eat once boiled as any other beans are.
posted by ambrosen at 9:50 AM on February 2, 2019
I have never heard of that. The "anti nutrients" are present in such low amounts that you can completely ignore it. Ignore the bullcrap about soy being "feminizing" because of "phytoestrogens," too.
Or someone might have gotten hominy mixed up where the nixtamalization process with alkali treatment frees the niacin in corn/maize to be bioavailable.
posted by porpoise at 4:23 PM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Or someone might have gotten hominy mixed up where the nixtamalization process with alkali treatment frees the niacin in corn/maize to be bioavailable.
posted by porpoise at 4:23 PM on February 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
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Heck, at one point I ate steamed edamame for dinner almost every night for months on end and I did not become malnourished.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:50 PM on February 1, 2019 [2 favorites]