Soy Amazing

A story of American ingenuity starring Ben Franklin, Henry Ford, Rod Blogojevich and a cast of thousands

As we munched on edamames at the Iowa Restaurant Association’s annual convention, a farmer asked me if I knew what we were eating. I explained that they were simply immature soy beans.

“You’re kidding me? I’ve been growing these for fifty years and I never knew I could eat them,” he laughed.

Mysterious soybeans are America’s number two export behind corn. Each year Iowa ranks first or second in soybean production. Yet a majority of Iowans can’t even recognize them in a bean field. At a time when this country consumes more, and produces relatively less, than ever before, soybeans should be a source of great pride and a symbol of American ingenuity. Yet they linger in the shadows of sexier things, like corn and meat.

Soybeans are contradictions in a pod. They are both old and new, dating back 5000 years in China but best known today as a brand new, genetically modified, miracle seed. Though they are inedible raw, they convert into the most economical source of protein in the world - over sixty percent oil and protein - there‘s nothing else like that on earth. Soybeans replenish the soil with their nitrogen and they saved the Midwest from becoming a Dust Bowl dessert. Yet they are the scourge of environmentalists and so-called natural food lovers. Europeans call genetically modified beans (ninety five percent of Iowa’s crop) “Frankenfood,” and forbid their importation.

Iowa farmers think that’s pretty peculiar. Humans have been tinkering with all seeds for centuries. That’s how we got apples that we can eat instead of the bitter tasting ones that were only good for pressing into hard cider through the middle of the 19th century. Same thing with most fruits.

“If you can crossbreed a bean that repels insects, why wouldn’t you want to? Would you rather plant beans for insects to eat? Would you rather kill the insects with pesticides?,” asked the same old farmer who tasted his first edamames this year.

These are exciting times for soybeans. The newest generation departs from the historical evolution of bean science. Food science in general, and Johnston-based Pioneer Hy-Bred in particular, have been previously more interested in engineering seeds to increase yields - to grow more beans. That changed the last decade in a rush to invent a bean that produced healthier oils for humans to eat. We now have soybean oil that can fry potatoes at temperatures above 400 degrees F without burning, and without trans fats. This has opened up exciting new culinary applications for the amazing soybean.

The story of soybeans is the story of American ingenuity, triumph and diversity. After Columbus’ first voyage to the New World, thousands of bean types crossed oceans in all directions for five hundred years.

“Settlers brought their own bean stocks with them to America. Nearly every town and holler had a bean with a different name and characteristics from those in the next town or holler,” explains bean farmer and Berea College Professor Bill Best.

Ben Franklin imported some of the first soybeans to America, as fertilizer. Americans didn’t grow them as food until the 1920’s but during the following four decades they conquered both their genus and world agriculture. The soybean now accounts for about ninety five percent of all beans grown in America yet it triumphed inconspicuously. Consider Iowa, often America’s leading soybean producer. It identifies itself as “The Corn State” and as the leading hog and egg state too. Yet all those industries are completely beholden to soybeans. They fertilize corn, save the soil it grows in, and they provided the inexpensive feed that allowed meat, poultry and eggs to become affordable foods for the first time in history.

How Soy Triumphed

The Chinese have been using soybeans in crop rotation for five millennia. Native Americans knew to grow beans with corn because they enriched the latter. Yet it took Dust Bowl soil erosion and a 1936 act of Congress to convince Midwestern farmers to plant soybeans in order to regenerate soil with their nitrogen-fixing abilities. Henry Ford invested millions in soybean research. By 1935 every Ford car was made with soy products. Mr. Ford wore suits made out of Azlon, a soy fiber textile that inspired nylon’s invention. He served all-soy meals after his scientists developed the first commercial soy milk, ice cream and non-dairy whipped topping.

During World War II soybeans were grown as a protein substitute for meats and dairy products. After Iowa farmers started planting them as food, they discovered the beans produced twice as much protein per acre than any other major vegetable or grain, five to ten times more than land set aside for grazing dairy animals, and up to 15 times more than land used in meat production. Scientists discovered that soybeans could be compressed for their oils and that their by-product could be transformed into soy meal, mainly for livestock feed.
Soybeans plowed inexorably through Iowa after World War II, when it was learned that they are provide a complete protein, meaning they contain significant amounts of all the essential amino acids that the human body can not synthesize by itself. Kennedy era trade negotiations secured tariff-free access for US soybeans in Europe. For the next decade America exported over 90 % of the world's soybeans and Iowa produced more than any other state. In recent decades, the rest of the world joined this green gold rush, sometimes generating controversy. Brazil is now the world’s leading soybean exporter to the chagrin of environmentalists who see Brazilian soy fields, dubbed Soyzonia, as a threat to Amazon rain forests and the pampas.

Still U.S. growers are projected to harvest a near-record 3.3 billion bushels this year. Iowa’s soy crop is up 300,000 acres from last year while Iowa corn plantings are down 200,000 acres. That might be more of a trend than an aberration.

Soft Science & Soy Science

Science has driven soy’s growth since Henry Ford’s day but lately it’s been soft science, as in nutrition. After nutritional experts determined that cholesterol was a health villain, alternatives to animal fats became popular, including hydrogenated (injected with hydrogen to create stability at high temperatures) soy-based margarines, oils and vegetable shortenings. In the early 1990’s, the Food & Drug Administration officially approved soy as a cholesterol-lowering food. That triggered tremendous growth for soy foods. From 1992 to 2003, annual sales grew from $300 million to $3.9 billion as consumers turned to margarines, tofu, soy milk, soy ice cream, tempeh, soy sauce, soy lecithin, yuba, natto, beans sprouts, Chinese fermented black beans (actually soy beans) and TVP (textured vegetable protein) products like meatless burgers, sausages and poultry.

Soy’s amazing growth slowed in the last decade. First nutritional scientists discovered that its prescription for avoiding cholesterol wasn’t helping people reduce their risk for heart diseases. They blamed trans fats, which were prevalent in hydrogenated oils. The nation’s potato fryers converted to trans fat free oils. Then Rod Blagojevich got involved. The infamous governor of Illinois ordered state prison inmates on new diets of mostly TVP products made by Blogojevich contributor ADM. Lawsuits followed alleging toxic effects from the diets. Soy foods came under scrutiny.

A decade of studies produced inconclusive findings regarding soy’s effects on health. Multiple suggested soy diets might help prevent prostate cancer and others that soy diets can speed brain recovery after injury. Epidemiological studies suggested that fermented tempeh intake improves memory function but that unfermented tofu intake might retard it in the elderly. Soybean industry scientists disputed that with their own studies claiiming no advantages for fermented soy products over unfermented ones. Some studies suggest that heavy soy diets could adversely increase chances of recurring breast cancer in post menopausal women and others suggested that large amounts of soy might prevent breast cancer in the first place.

Today the nutritional world and the soybean industry agree that a new generation of soybeans which produce less linolenic acid, more oleic acid, and fewer saturated fats is better for everyone. “Low - lin” beans were introduced in 2005 and improved ever since under names like Nutrium, Asoyia, Vistive and Plenish. They allow high temperature stability without trans fats, so their oils can be used in high heat frying. They’re also more versatile in industrial applications. Farmers can fetch a premium price for them.

Soy Food Art

Raw soybeans, including popular edamames, are toxic to humans, hogs and chickens. So soybeans have always been dependent upon scientists beginning with the first cooks. Thousands of years before Louis Pasteur “discovered” fermentation, Chinese food scientists began making soy sauce by mixing soybeans and grain with cultures and/or yeast.

America’s first fermented soybean beer was probably produced by Court Avenue Brewing Company in Des Moines.

“We think we were first. The New York Times thought we were too, and no one has told us we weren’t,” explained owner Scot Carlson who added that his beer drew customers from Asia, including brew masters.

“We just didn’t sell enough to keep making it regularly. We’re too small,” he said.

Purdue University and Pony Express Brewery of Missouri were also once involved with making soy beers but their main market was Japan. Then all major Japanese brewers entered the soy game in 2004. Now soy beers, which are not taxed like other beers, are the rage in Japan.

Miyabi 9 serves soybean’s gourmet foods. Yuba is the skin that is skimmed off the top of simmering soy milk. Some versions cost $50 a mouthful in Los Angeles. Miyabi owner Mike Yamamoto makes his into dumplings stuffed with seasoned sticky rice. For vegans, these are the textural equivalence of bluefin tuna belly. Miyabi also serves natto, a legendarily weird and stinky food that some scientists think explains why Japanese women are less likely to have breast cancer and why all Japanese tend to have fewer blood clots. Yamamoto says a new invention, “dry natto” powder, has made it possible to ferment these soybeans into tendril like slime without its infamous smell. Miyabi also serves the most flavorful miso in town, a soybean paste soup famous for umami, the fifth, savory flavor.

Several top western style chefs have been expanding their soybean repertoires. Anthony Johnson of Mojo’s on 86th makes a stunning risotto with edamames, fresh coconut and freshly rendered coconut milk. He serves that with tamarind-glazed, pork chops marinated in miso sake. Andrew Meek at Sbrocco marinates pork belly in soy and serves it sushi style on top of a paste of edamames. Ephraim Malag of Tournament Club of Iowa serves edamame-mango relish with Kalua pig. Cyd Koehn of Hy Vee Conference Center smokes pork butts and serves those with broccoli slaw mixed with roasted soy nuts, cilantro, Craisins and Granny Smith apples dressed in a vinaigrette made with Shinsu miso, ginger puree, yuzu and citrus. Blue Mountain Culinary Emporium in Orange City makes jerk pork that is marinated in miso.

No one has worked more diligently at soy inventions than George Formaro (Centro, Django and Gateway Market Café). He tried hundreds of translated Japanese miso recipes before settling on those in his ramen dishes. Then he invented five vegan versions of popular Iowa sandwiches, including vegan banh mi. Those famous Vietnamese sandwiches are made with very un-vegan things such as roast pork, headcheese, mayonnaise and fish sauce.

“The mayo was the hardest part. I finally found that substituting twice the amount of eggs with tofu was the secret. With the fish sauce I tried lots of things. One recipe used a small amount of seaweed, brown bean sauce, mushroom, soy and fermented soybean curd. Add some liquid amino acids, some chopped garlic, sambal, and a splash of vinegar and the flavor starts to come together,” explains Formaro, sounding more like a mad scientist than a chef.

That’s what soy has been doing to people for 5000 years.