At the market last Thursday, we came across a table strewn with fresh corn on the cob. The vendor was Full Belly Farm, and I hadn't seen corn there in recent weeks, no.Quoth the handsome farmer, "It's the first corn of the season!"
Well, duh. No wonder! So we grabbed a few ears.
Oh, then on the way to pay for the corn, we spied little baskets of — no — yes? — edamame!
"I've been living on edamame and corn all week," said the farmer.
Done deal.
Now, I want to explain. I'm a little shy about talking to the farmers. I tend to hover and let other shoppers do the heavy lifting. Fortunately, one of my fellow shoppers asked how to cook the fresh soy beans. She even knew this guy's name, but right now, I don't
even remember it.Fortunately I did assimilate the instructions on the beans. Cook, in the pods, in boiling water for about five minutes. Then shell, and salt or dip in soy sauce.
You're on your own for the corn... Surely you've learned how to cook corn by now.
Here's my lunch today.
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22 comments:
Ooo. Edamame and corn. Two of my favorite foods. I must now go to the kitchen to cook because I am suddenly hungry again.
When I spent a loooong year in the middle of Missouri, there were 4 things grown there, industrial chicken, industrial pig, industrial soy beans and industrial corn. I should have run into the soy bean fields and picked the soybeans for free. Now, all I could get is expensive frozen stuff. So, the super fresh soy beans are good huh?
You have no idea how jealous I am. We won't see fresh corn for at *least* another month and fresh soybeans, in Idaho, just listen to me laugh. I wonder if I can grow them? Zone 5? Hmmm... have to look around.
The sort of nutty flavor of edamame remind me of fresh baby butterbeans (limas) and there is the natural association of corn and butterbeans (Southern succotash) so this lunch sounds/feels familiar and absolutely yummy!
But edamame are ever so much easier to shell.
It was so fun meeting you and Cranky on Saturday! Loved the market even more this year than I did last year. (It's just not the same with my friends, who start tapping their toes and looking at their watches when I try to ask about the food.) I bet those fresh fava beans taste just wonderful. I'm very sorry to report that I left the little peppers and fresh fava beans in the fridge at the hotel, duh. I just hope one of the maids took them home and cooked them. So when are you coming to Utah?
Duh again, of course I meant to sa "I bet those fresh edamame taste wonderful." Boy I need to get it together. I think I've been seriously over-stimulated.
I had never heard of edamame ubtil I read about them in the Sunday papers. Now I want to try them.
ooh a handsome farmer, swoon! I too am always shy about chatting the the market folk but I always eavesdrop on others!
oh yeah baby! i like to boil the edemame in soooooooper salty, like the ocean salty, water, like boiled peanuts, and they go great with Blatz! and corn and soy bean salad... fuggedaboutit!! man, i'm coming to your house for lunch.. you got me all excited! amazing picture of the bean too, Ms. Crumb!
CC,
> You're on your own for the corn... Surely you've learned how to cook corn by now.
Only within the past 10 years as a matter of fact. It turns out corn is one of those vegetables that cooks perfectly in a microwave. Remove all but the innermost layer of shuck, sprinkle with a few fresh herbs (basil is good) and zap for about 3 minutes on high. Marvelous!
I loved hearing that you're shy with the farmers. I think of you as a kind of Wonder-Woman personality!
Dagny: How on earth could you possibly be hungry again after your birthday feast?! :D
Lannae: The fresh soy beans are good, yes, but they do taste just like the frozen ones... but fresher.
(Your description of the middle of Missouri is harrowing.)
Annamarie: Hang tight, hon.
I don't know how soybeans are grown. Probably just like other beans. It would be worth investigating, even if only for a tiny harvest.
Kudzu: I didn't know butterbeans were hard to shell. Yeah, edamame just *slide* out of their shells. I love that slippery coating, mm. Yup, succotash, but SO West Coast.
Kalyn: Fantastic meeting you, too! We had fun. I'm so sorry you forgot your produce! (I was worried you wouldn't have a refrigerator in your hotel, and then you go and check out without looking in there... gasp.) We will put Utah on the itinerary, my dear. Thank you. xx
Beccy: I first had them in Japan as a bar snack. Super salty, which is just a way to sell more beer. I hope you find some to try. They won't knock your socks off, but they're just kinda delightful.
DMM: ALL farmers are handsome, silly!
Stacie: Sometime you'll have to describe the fresh produce in your area. And in your garden. You probably don't have much reason to be jealous!
But you can still come over for lunch. :D
Mr. Kevin: We are in agreement, sir! I peel back the husks, remove the silk, and insert bits of butter. Then re-fold, and nuke for a very short time, depending (you can always go back if it's underdone). Microwaving doesn't alter the flavor of corn, the way it seems to with potatoes.
Lucette: See, well, that would be my avatar. My real version is a nerd. But thank you for sharing your fantasy.
Corn and edamame are two of my favorite veggie combos. So nice to meet and Cranky last weekend. Hope we can do it again soon.
Never really had edamame that fresh. Sounds good. I love the farmers market if only I could get rid of all those people and have the place to myself
I have so, so long to wait for good corn. Have an ear for me, will you?
nonono!!!
don't dip edamame in shoyu, ever.
BAD.
those things look like 'petai' here in Kuala Lumpur, tho v dun think they can taste as good ( or as bad )as yr glistening greenies !
I can attest that soybeans are grown like other bush beans. And yes, they're just plain fresher than the frozen ones. The frozen ones do have the slight advantage in that every pod and pea is the same size, whereas your homegrown harvest will vary slightly in terms of ripeness. (Such a problem to have, I know...)
Oh, and the great thing? The variety I grow is called "Beer Friend."
I'm a salt-o-holic...so I boil them in instant dashi stock (the powder stuff that you just dump in the water)
~confession~
and then...after straining the pods, I sprinkle them with more dashi powder....which is totally unecessary but i love sucking the salty dashi off the pods.
Oh, edamame! I've never had fresh, only frozen. I love it, though! I just sprinkle salt on the parboiled pods and let my salty fingers provide the salt.
In Hawaii, we call edamame "squeeze beans" because you squeeze them one at a time out of their pods and catch the slippery bean in your mouth. Cooked in salt water, they are a great fresh appetizer, too.
Christine: So nice to meet you! And to have a new (to me) blog to explore.
Funny, I've never even thought about putting corn with edamame, but it's a natural.
Greg: I don't know what your work week is like, but if you can get to the Thursday Civic Center market early, it's less crowded and Full Belly is there. (They don't come on Sundays.) But boy, do I agree with you about crowds. Yargh.
Tammy: Cranky and I used to visit his parents on the Cape every summer, and eventually I learned to delay our trip so it would coincide with "native" produce season. Heh.
Anonymous: Please come back and tell me why. I realize I never see edamame with shoyu anywhere else but in my house (and it's tasty). What is the prohibition?
Team BSG: Petai. I'll look into that; it's new to me. And, yes, don't these greenies just glisten? Mm.
El: Ha ha! Beer Friend. Oh, that's a hoot. Well, maybe I'll try growing some myself. Bush bean. Couldn't be *too* hard, could it?
SteamyKitchen: Ooh! You're probably breaking all sorts of food-police regulations, and it sounds delicious!
KathyF: That's the trick, actually. Salt the pods. I'm a neophyte, but I'll keep trying until I get it right, dammit.
Pam: Squeeze Beans!!! That's adorable. I'm buying more, tomorrow.
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