Assessment of Exotic Vegetable-Type Soybean Genotypes for Nutritional and Antinutritional Components

Vegetable-type soybean (VSB) differs from the conventional grain-type soybean in large seed size, sweet taste and pleasant aroma. VSB has been in daily cuisines in SouthEast Asian countries since ages and popularly known by nomenclature like edamame (Japan), mao dou (China) and poot kong (Korea). For consumption, the pods of VSB are picked when they attain approximately 80 per cent maturity but not turned yellow, which corresponds to the R₆ stage of soybean plant development. Freshly harvested pods are boiled in water and directly popped into mouth or tender seeds shelled from boiled pods can be used in various food recipes similar to the chick pea and green pea. Traditional soy products of the South-East countries viz. soy milk, tofu, natto, miso processed from mature seeds, could not evoke much public response in other parts of world including India due to their off-flavour, time-consuming preparation and the exotic appeal. In such countries, VSB owing to its sweet taste, reduced off-flavour, easy cook- ability and more importantly, resemblance to other regular beans viz. chickpea, green pea and French bean offer an excellent alternative mode for harnessing health benefits of soybean. Efforts are underway to introduce the special vegetable-type genotypes from countries like Taiwan, China and India and popularize among masses.