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Soya beans
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Thursday, 13th October 2011
(beans)
Has anybody grown soya beans successfully in the UK, and had a good crop?
I was going to look for some recipes on the cookery MB, but is seems to have disappeared, for good 'n all.
there are plenty of other cookery MBs run privately and amateur too. -
Message 2
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Thursday, 13th October 2011
It is not as though wheat for example, is a typical amateur "grow your own" crop
but looking at the Lupin seed market in the UK for dietary purposes, it would seem that there is a huge gulf between what the farmer is doing and what the amateur grower knows about, or even thinks about growing himself.
Nobody here knew anything about Lupins for food when I enquired earlier in the year, but they are surely every bit as good as Jerusalem artichoke as garden items and food. -
Message 3
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Thursday, 13th October 2011
Yes, I grew soya, it must be more than 15 years ago. They need more heat than we get in West Wales for a good crop, but in my opinion they are one of the most boring vegetables I have ever grown.
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Message 4
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Thursday, 13th October 2011
And yet the Tofu food business is growing by leaps and bounds.
It is estimated that 20-30% of the world's food comes from inorganic sources, ie that fertilizing soil with inorganic matter, produces that much increase in crops.
Using pasture/meadow for beef herds is highly inefficient, although the introduction of Maize can as much as double the food yield for the animals.
In the same way Soya is being developed for human consumption, along with the best methods of cooking it.
The same applies to fungi technology which is apparently still in its bio- technological infancy. -
Message 5
Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Friday, 14th October 2011
We tried growing soya commercially a few years ago but the yields were very poor due to the latitude we are, they love sunlight and a lot longer season than we can give
Lupins are an interesting alternative but most varieties are indigestible to humans I cant remember why something to do with the seed coating similar to some beans
They have now bred varieties which we can chew ok, but again yields in the UK are poor for the same reason as soya
It is true that producing protien for humans by feeding grains to cattle is very innefficent compared to eating it directly but you have to remember that a lot of land in the UK is not fit for arable I think something over half the total acreage of the country
UK farmeres still rely on a lot of natural sources of fertility to maintain the health of our soils. Talk to any allotment grower and they will extol the value of FYM -
Message 6
Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Friday, 14th October 2011
Fungal protein is certainly not in its infancy and commercial plants have been producing it for over 40 years
The trouble is nobody in their right minds likes eating it
Do you not remember all those quorn specials
Actually the big boys dropped out of producing it as their are many question marks over its safety in the long term for the human body -
Message 7
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Saturday, 15th October 2011
Hm! I read one website which was extolling new possibilities, but Steve's report suggests otherwise.
If I can find it again, I will report back.
the chinese seems to do good with Soy products dressing them up as all sorts of fancy meats which are merely sliced soy products. Chicken...soy; beef...soy...
and so on. Pastry.... soy.
AND because the protein content is so high it seems a virtuous thing to do. -
Message 8
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Saturday, 15th October 2011
Hm! I read one website which was extolling new possibilities, but Steve's report suggests otherwise.
If I can find it again, I will report back.
The Chinese seems to do good with Soy products dressing them up as all sorts of fancy meats which are merely sliced soy products. Chicken...soy; beef...soy...
and so on. Pastry.... soy.
AND because the protein content is so high it seems a virtuous thing to do.
I have bought £10 worth to see what I can cook up with these products. -
Message 9
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Friday, 21st October 2011
I can't remember quite why I mentioned being in its infancy even now but it is the numbers of species and their eukaryotic properties which are in question.
There are certainly as many pathogens as good ones. It's finding the good ones
microscopically and testing them. -
Message 10
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Friday, 21st October 2011
The four products I bought in packs at £1,50 a time add considerably to a non meat protein diet (I do eat meat). different tastes, very different textures, but quite a lot of preparation. The Chinese eat them.
I was wondering how I can get round the cost of the prepared Soya, which is surely the objective of the allotment gardener as well. T*co soy beans come in a frozen pack just like the "Iceland" broad beans, so the new species of soya should be grown in the garden quite easily.
But how to make the curds is another question all together, possibly an agri/horti cultural one. -
Message 11
Posted by Nitabubble (U14886404) on Friday, 21st October 2011
I used to have a cookery book by Sarah Brown which gave instructions for making bean curd. I did it once but it was incredubly time and space consuming (lots of dripping over night, pressing etc), and I ended up with very crumbly curd. There was also a recipe for using the disproportionately large quantity of chaff you are left with. This was for a "pork" pie, which involved hot water crust and lots of tomato juice or puree (can't remember; it was a long time ago) to colour the chaff a lurid pink, and again rather a lot of time. It looked moderately convincing but it was horrible but an enterprise I remember with interest . The beans used were of course dried. Fresh soya beans are virtually tasteless, as are the dried ones, but at least the dried ones can be flavoured.
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Message 12
Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Friday, 21st October 2011
Soya is an excellent source of protein but if you are eating it as fresh or dried beans be aware that it is also very high in oil (fat) about 20%
When I commented about the growing in the Uk I did not take into account the possiblities of eating it green.
I believe that the soya curd made commercially is after extracting the oil
it is certainly a cooks job not a farmers so i dont go there
one of the issue with soya curd (tofu) is that to get flavour in to it very high levels of salt are often used -
Message 13
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Friday, 21st October 2011
If you were dairying you would go in to the creamery would you not?
Exactly the same principles apply to the making of Soy curds, except that "Nigari" is used instead of rennet to do the curdling.
I'll get some soy beans and keep you informed.
I always put my cheese in a muslin cloth to drain it; the same with soy curds apparently
It might be an easier thing to do in a smallish lab that I have than cheese making
since the question of hygiene is so difficult with the flies. Putting it in the fridge to drain is one method of keeping the insects away.
That;s what i mean by cooking. -
Message 14
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Friday, 21st October 2011
Yes Tesco sell mung beans as soy beans, which they are not at all.
nigari used to curdle soya is as follows:
Nigari alternatives
difficulty finding nigari. ...................... magnesium chloride in stores -essentially what nigari is?........used lemon juice, the tofu comes out pretty well. So in addition to gypsum and the various vinegars that people here have used, lemon juice seems to also work well. ........... either mix a 1/4 cup of lemon juice with a cup of water, or add the juice straight in, 2 tbsp at a time
Vinegar may be used, lemon juice, or magnesium chloride.
a very healthy curdling agent indeed!
One wonders after reading Stev's/your reply about the English/British loathing of garlic until recent years, which one still encounters from time to time, and reluctance to eat wild mushrooms as well.
Here may be another example of a first rate food from Japan, being ignored because "people don't like it" and yet they flood in droves to a local cheap Chinese restaurant to eat the stuff because they thing it is meat, when in fact it is .....................t......................o.......................f....................u........!!
No wonder the japanese live so long. I should think Holland and Barrett sells the beans, and/ or the magnesium chloride. -
Message 15
Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Saturday, 22nd October 2011
I think you should read to the bottom of the linkss you post
where it tells you that Magnesium is not absorbed orally and can cause diarhea
in fact that site is pure rubbish
seriously though there is nothing wrong with Tofu that I am aware of
but it is very bland which is why chinese food contains so much salt sugar and of course the ubiquitous soy sauce another soya derivative
I personally love wild mushrooms perhaps I only post to discourage other people from picking at my favourite spots.....
not really anyone going out without a lot of knowledge on the subject is taking their life in their hands
The reason the Japanese live so long has recently been exposed as a gross fraud onm their benefits system by literally thousands of claimants for people who actually died sometimes over fifty years ago -
Message 16
Posted by Papa Nopsis (U14479902) on Saturday, 22nd October 2011
I have just posted about sustainable gardening on garden inspiration.
I would be glad for farmer Steve's comments.
You won't scotch it!
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