Cook With Soy Nuts: Nutrition, Tips & Silly Food Facts

Featured Food:  Soy Nuts

Challenge Weekend
November 13, 2014

Silly Food Fact

Soy nuts are not actually nuts, but roasted soybeans. You can choose salted or unsalted, or even honey-roasted, hickory-smoked, or chocolate-covered. Yum!  In Japan, soy nuts are called “fortune beans,” based on the tradition of eating one roasted soybean for each year of life, plus one more for good luck.

Why Our Body Loves it!

Most of the nutrients of a soybean are retained in a soy nut, so you receive lots of nutritional value plus isoflavones, useful in preventing heart disease, some forms of cancer, and hormonal imbalances. Since soy nuts are a complete protein—containing all the essential amino acids for the human body—they are an ideal food for vegetarians and vegans.

Is your love for soy nuts getting even nuttier and want to read more?  Check out more health benefits of soy nuts here.

Care & Picking

Soybeans plants are covered with fine, brownish-gray hairs, and the beans grow inside pod clusters. Soybeans are a huge, global commercial crop—the U.S. alone produces 90 million tons annually, providing oil and protein around the world. Soy nuts are made by soaking soybeans in water, draining, and then baking or roasting until crisp and brown.

Tips & Warnings

Soy nuts have a similar texture to peanuts but contain much less fat. Watch the added fat from chocolate coatings, however, as well as the extra sodium from salted varieties. Besides soy nuts, you may be seeing edamame in your local store. These are simply soybeans picked before they ripen. Typically, edamame is cooked and eaten as a pod vegetable, but it is also available as a roasted soy nut snack. The nuts are green instead of brown!

Our Favorite Recipes

 Learn how to make your own Soy Nuts!