Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

UTILISATION

• Soybeans are widely used in a vast range of industries—adhesives, nutrients,
  fertiliser, textiles and fibres—and in the food industry for both humans and
  animals. The grain contains no starch and so it is a good protein source for
  diabetics. Soya is the main source of lecithin, used in food processing such as an


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  “milk”. The soya grains are lightly toasted and ground into a rough flour which

  
  


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  should be taken with immature seed which can cause abortion due to the
  oestrogens present in it.

  
  

LIMITATIONS

• geographical area, mainly in temperate regions, and to perform to their full
  potential in technically advanced agricultural systems, including high fertiliser
  input. There are relatively few varieties adapted for the tropics or subtropics or


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  a longish growing season, two reasons that they are rarely grown in northern

  
  


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  accumulated heat units during the growing season;

  
  


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  temperature or humidity is high, or if the seed is transported and/or handled
  roughly.

  
  

185

Cheese-like products such as tempeh, tofu and miso are made from soya

In many countries the high protein content of soybeans is consumed as soya

A few varieties such as Butterbean, Frostbeater and Envy are eaten as green

is then boiled with water and drunk as a kind of soup.

emulsifier in margarine.

beans, cooked when the seed is full size but still green and tender.

planted together with cowpeas.

Soybeans can be used as a nitrogen enriching green manure crop, sometimes

The growing crop can be fed to animals, either grazed or as forage, but care

Most varieties of soybean are only adapted to grow well in a relatively small

for cultivation by subsistence farmers with modest inputs.

No varieties have yet been developed with true frost resistance, and they require

Europe.

Yields are low in acidic and/or infertile soil, and when there are insufficient

The beans are not very palatable to humans until they have been elaborately

prepared and cooked.

The seed may have to be inoculated (1Fe, page 54), which can be logistically

The seed is delicate, so the germination rate falls rapidly in storage when the

challenging.

GROWING FOOD – THE FOOD PRODUCTION HANDBOOK