I recently stopped by my friends’ house for a visit. Instead of being greeted by a hug and the usual chips and dip, they offered me something else- long, green fuzzy pods known as Edamame. I watched them as they hovered over the bowl sucking the beans out of the pod as if it were their last meal. Not pretty but quite intriguing.

Of course these are good, polite friends so they put some pods in a dish for me, but the fact is we were all just sitting there eating these damn edamame non-stop. I had heard of this “soy bean” before but never took the time to get to know it. Big mista

ke on my part.

Edamame is delicious. As a matter of fact, it has replaced Cape Cod potato chips as my latest snack obsession. Thank goodness, since Edamame is a legume (or, bean) and unlike chips it is very nutritious and low in calories. Plus, it takes longer to eat and is almost a social experience.

According to Edamame.com…

Edamame is a green vegetable more commonly known as a soybean, harvested at the peak of ripening right before it reaches the “hardening” time. The word Edamame means “Beans on Branches,” and it grows in clusters on bushy branches.

To retain th

e freshness and its natural flavor, it is parboiled and quick-frozen. In East Asia, the soybean has been used for over two thousand years as a major source of protein. Edamame is consumed as a snack, a vegetable dish, used in soups or processed into sweets.

As a snack, the pods are lightly boiled in salted water, and then the seeds are squeezed directly from the pods into the mouth with the fingers.

Yup, that was us… squeezing the pods directly into our mouths with our fingers. Yummy and fun!

Edamame is found in your local grocery store and the 16 oz. bag I bought cost $2.50. A serving size of 2/3 cup (OK, three of us split two bags) is 100 calories, five grams of fat, nine grams of protein, 11 grams of carbohydrates, six grams of fiber, 0 cholesterol and 0 sodium.  They are a great source of dietary fiber, vitamin K, folic acid, riboflavin, iron, manganese, isoflavones, and carotenoids. WOW! I don’t even know what half of that stuff is but it sure sounds impressive.

You simply boil or steam them, spray the pods with a little cooking spray and lightly salt. As you suck out the beans you get just enough salt from the pod.

Perfection!