Created & Produced by John Daub

ONLY in JAPAN

Edamame

They're immature soy beans

usually boiled or steamed

a little salt

and I love them.

You can eat edamame frozen anytime

but between the end of June and the beginning of September

they're harvest fresh

and available at all the Japanese supermarkets

and it's by far my favourite summer snack

But what exactly are edamame?

Where do they come from and

how are the grown?

The name in Japanese gives you a clue

EDA means stem or branch

MAME means bean

To get the complete story I came to

Chiba prefecture near Tokyo to a city called Noda.

The best edamame are found nearby and

Chiba is very close to Tokyo,

known for great produce.

The middle of the prefecture is mostly farms

and beautiful flat countryside.

In the center of Noda is Yumeaguri Noda,

a produce coop –

and they sell some of the best edamame in town!

The store just opened and customers are quick to snag up

the morning's fresh harvested edamame.

400 yen or about $4 get you 300 grams of right off the stem edamame.

Yumeaguri has several varieties of of Edamame –

that's right! There are dozens of cultivars!

There are edamame products too like Edamame toufu.

See those edamame beans?

Edamame soda?

Yup – it's green, sweet and slightly salty with a hint of edamame.

National snack brands also cash in on

the summer edamame craze!

Executive director of Yumeaguri Noda is Sekine-san

who was nice enough to show me his farm

to get a better understanding on how edamame are made

and what makes them so darn good.

We grabbed a wheel barrel and headed to his field out back.

Starting in April, he hand plants the edamame seeds

in the field where they start sprouting within a week.

Here they are after 2 weeks. No soy bean pods yet.

Sekine-san and I were after the immature soy beans

which were down this way.

His family harvests them fresh daily in the summer

from June to August when the weather is best

and they're in season.

He's got a fair sized field,

all hand planted which means a lot of long days here.

Edamame is probably Japan's no.1 snack

especially in the summer

when it's enjoyed with copious amounts of beer at izakaya,

rooftop gardens or in homes all over the country.

Edamame are immature beans so you have to harvest them early.

Not yet.

The thickness of the pod is still 4-5mm.

At harvest time. the thickness of the pod will be

10-12 millimeters

So they're not ready yet.

So - next week?

Well, maybe the week after that.

So you're probably wondering ー

What makes edamame so great?

Here are some facts.

Are Edamame Soy Beans? No!

Soy Beans are mature while Edamame are the immature soft version of them, thus the different name.

It's called Edamame when still in the pod

and Mukimame when serves just as a bean.

Avoid Edamame that is yellowish or shrunken.

The pod should look plump and firm.

Edamame are usually boiled in salted water or steamed.

I prefer them unsalted though.

What makes them the perfect snack?

They're high in fiber, calcium, amino acids, and a ton of minerals and vitamins.

Low is sugar and fat and almost no cholesterol.

Around Tokyo, Edamame are planted in April and harvested in June but different areas have different seasons.

Edamame must be eaten within 3 days

when harvested fresh so the best are always local.

They can last up to a year when frozen.

Most people eat them as an appetizer

Much healthier than french fries & potato chips!

The Japanese word Edamame entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003.

Don't eat the pod! That's just gross.

Eat the beans inside.

Do they grow on a tree or in the ground?

Let's harvest some edamame with Sekine-san right now.

It's not really that hard to harvest

Sekine-san just pulls them from the ground!

The plants are about 80-100 centimeters high.

When is edamame ready to be pulled?

Sekine-san explains.

This edamame pod

this plumpness means good and ready

the condition of the stem

the colour of the leaves

these are signs that

it's ready to be harvested right away.

I was a little curious about how they taste raw like this.

I mean, we eat almost all vegetables raw in salads.

It can't be bad, right?

The pods are hard to open

The beans are hard too when uncooked.

Hmmm … haha!

How is it?

It tastes different than the taste boiled, right?

Well, it just tastes like a raw vegetable

Just boil it really quick for a few minutes

Put it in boiling water - really hot

then cool it down in ice water

it will bring out the taste better

That's right! It'll get tastier!

So ー how do you eat edamame?

Here's one.

I've been eating it the same way for years –

like a hamster

The salt is on the outside and

I like sucking it dry, typewritter the things out.

Was that odd?

Yeah, a little strange but no problem.

That's how I eat it.

Here's a demo on how some ladies eat Edamame in Japan.

Oh, you're eating it differently!

Yeah, that's how women often eat it

one bean at a time

Take a bean out and eat.

That's the ladies way.

Sekine-san demonstrates how he eats it.

Just push it a little here

it comes out easily

He just holds it up like a harmonica and pops it in his mouth.

Give it a try!

Rub it in salt and then put it in boiling water

for 4 minutes

when finished, quickly put it in ice water

and this bright green colour will show

that's the secret to eating delicious edamame

I wanted to know about when the different varieties of Edamame and how they're grown.

There are many types like cha-mamae, aomame

but the one that is most grown in this region

is the Aomame variety

Of the Aomame, we produce this one called Aji-Fuka

Aji-Fuka is our main edamame crop now

After that we have to harvest ones depending

on the weather

The types of Edamame

there are also so many seed companies so

simply the number of seeds that

JA introduces to us is oner 50 kinds

Within those types, each farmer will choose

what's suitable for their field

whether for taste or for the amount of harvest

so they will choose what to harvest

based on their needs

Naturally in February or March when it is cold,

edamame doesn't grow well.

Farmers use plastic green houses or row covers

to keep them warm making edamame grow faster

Farms all over the country

From Hokkaido to Kyushu

there exists so many edamame farmers

in different regions

but here in Noda, it's fairly warm

so here, you can plant the seeds in February

but places like Yamagata (in Tohoku)

famous for Da-da Chamame

Gunma for Tengu Mame - or Niigata

they plant after the snow has melted

which means planting is in May

and harvested in mif July to August

Vegetables are living things until eaten

so until then

you can preserve the quality and

taste of the beans

by doing it this way compared to separated pods

since the nutrients of the beans

are still on the stem

The packaging is important too

It's see-through so customers can

see that it's fresh

They're hand clipped and left on the stem

to preserve freshness and those vitamin

He's been at it all day

The final product

ready for the local store or

refrigerated delivery to Tokyo

The Noda seal is important because

This city is THE HOME OF EDAMAME!

So that's how Edamame are grown!

I thought they'd be grown underground like

a peanut - or up in a tree

but they're just like any other bean

So that's what a fresh edamame looks like

So if you come to Japan especially in the summer

Definitely try some edamame

If you're in the area come to Noda and have them fresh from the ground!

Next time I travel to Shiga prefecture

to try a local delacacy

it's exotic and well — unique!

it's 1 year old fermented FUNAZUSHI

with a reputation of being super sour

and stinking like cheese

How bad can it be?

We're about to find out!

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Mata ne!