Saturday, November 26, 2011

Soy Beans

I did not plan to harvest dry soy beans this year. The plan was to have a nice supply of fresh edamame. Well, while we were on our honeymoon the plants got a bit past that point and began to dry on the vine. I pulled them in late July or early August, and just let them sit on the porch under a tent to dry. Then in maybe September my mom was visiting and got sick of looking at them, and pulled the pods off the plants and left them in a bag. I think I brought that bag inside in late October or early November.

Needless to say, I did not really set up ideal conditions for drying and shelling soybeans. During this process, about 30% of the beans rotted. Instead of getting pretty beans like this:


I got a bunch of pods that looked like this:


After over an hour of work, I shelled what was once an 8 foot row of soybeans, and ended up with this:


That's an entire half-sheet baking pan of dried shells and rotted beans, and 1 1/4 cup of beans to the right.


This jar is destined for the freezer to kill anything that might be hiding in it. Then I need to figure out how to use these soybeans. Any ideas?

Next year I might actually grow some shelling beans, but I'll be a bit more intentional.