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Soyabean - The Wonder Bean

Submitted by Sharon Hopkins on July 12, 2007

From the Family Fabaceae, Glycine max or commonly known as soybean is one of the most common ingredient of several healthy dishes at present. One serving of raw soya, which is around 100 grams, can give out 30 kcal of energy. According to the US dietary standards, 90.4% of soybean is composed of water, about 6% carbohydrates, 3% protein and less than 0.2% goes to fat. It also contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, namely Vitamin A, B6, B12, C, K, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium and Zinc. Imagine getting all those nutrients in one small bean.

Soya is considered a local legume annual plant of Eastern Asia. It varies in its growth, sometimes being very low to almost crawling on the ground to as high as 2 meters in height. They have brown trifoliate leaves measuring about an average of 10 cm long by 4 cm wide.

When the leaves fall, hermaphroditic flowers grow in its place which may be white, purple or pink in color. From these flowers grow a hairy cluster of pods which is the actual soya fruit. From these fruit, about 3 seeds or beans are harvested per pod.

Throughout history, soybean has been a favorite topic of research because of the numerous uses one can derive from it. For health conscious people, soybean is known as tofu form, soybean oil, and the main component of veggie burgers. Most soy protein from a variety of soya beans are heat stable proteins, which makes it possible for it to be cooked without altering the stability of the protein.

Soybean is also an important plant for its protein and soybean oil. Nothing from the crops of the soybean plant is discarded. A big part of it is used for the extraction of soybean oil, and soy meal is for the food of farm animals. Only a small portion of the plant is actually eaten by people. Most of the soybean products are seen in processed foods.
Soybean is also fermented to produce soy sauce, a type of seasoning frequently used by Asians. It is also considered as a popular healthy snack. The soybeans are boiled inside the green pods and eaten with salt as garnish. Miso soup is also a derivative of soybean as well as the soybean sprouts used in Korean cooking. For babies who are lactose intolerant, soy milk is used an alternative.

Soybean oil is produced from yellow dehulled soybeans that are of excellent quality. These soybeans are cracked, dehydrated and placed in hexane as solvent to extract the oil. Then the soybean oil is refined, blended and at times hydrogenated. The soybean oil are either used for other processed foods or as cooking vegetable oil. The husks of the soybean will be made into food for farm animals.

Soybean is not only used for food but also an essential part of crop rotation because of its ability to make nitrogen fixation occur. It is also used for industrial products such as soap, cosmetics, crayons, resin, solvents, plastics, clothes, and biodiesel. It is also fermented to produce a certain brand of vodka.
Soya has a lot of uses and what I have mentioned are just a small part of it. And there are still a lot of uses that are waiting to be discovered. Maybe someday, we will find out that soybean is a cure for several diseases like cancer and AIDS. Won’t that be interesting?