Cooking Soy Beans

Long-time readers know that I'm not a big fan of soy. I avoid processed soy products like soy milk, soy cheese, soy "meat," and even soy protein powder. But I do use soy beans occasionally, mostly in chili and soups. I like beans in these things, and using soy beans to replace some or all of other sorts of beans saves a lot of carbs. I have often used Eden brand canned black soy beans, and have listed them in many recipes. But canned soy beans cost more than a dollar per can, while dry, raw soy beans run just over a dollar per pound, which cooks up to the equivalent of several cans. So sometimes I cook up a batch of soy beans, package them in meal-sized quantities, and stash them in my freezer.

But soy beans can be a little tricky to cook. Because of their low starch content and high protein content, they take freakin' forever to get soft. Here's how I cook soy beans:

I don't bother weighing or measuring how many soy beans I buy. I just go to Sahara Mart, my favorite health food store, and scoop as many as seems right from the bulk bin. When I get my soy beans home, I put them in my biggest steel bowl, stir them around a bit, and pick out any that seem dirty or spoiled. Then I cover the rest with water, and let them sit overnight. Be aware that your soy beans will swell while soaking; you need to use a bowl that's big enough to allow for this.

Then I drain my soaked soy beans and stash them in the freezer. Why? Because as the water they've absorbed expands in freezing it ruptures a lot of the soy beans' tough cell walls, making it easier to cook them soft.

When the beans are frozen solid, I take them out of the freezer, put them in my big slow cooker, and cover them with water once again. I do not add salt! Salt works some sort of malign magic on legumes of all kinds, making it much more difficult to get them to soften up. I cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and forget about it for a good 12 hours.

Finally, when my soy beans are soft I scoop them into zipper lock bags in 1 1/2 cup quantities, which is roughly what a can of soy beans holds. I use my ladle to do this; easier than a measuring cup and I know it holds exactly 1/2 cup. (It's a great idea to know the capacity of your ladle!)
Throw the baggies in a plastic grocery sack, stash the sack in the deep freeze, and I've got the equivalent of a whole bunch of cans of soy beans at my fingertips, ready for that cold, rainy night when chili is just the thing.