Soybeans

Appears in

Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

Published 2004

About

The soybean (Glycine max) is an annual summer legume that ranks as one of the world’s most nutritious, economical, and protein-rich food sources. Although the soybean is used primarily for animal and human food, it also finds industrial applications in such diverse products as printer’s ink, biodiesel fuel, paints, varnishes, plastics, and adhesives.

The soybean plant—a close relative of peas, clover, and alfalfa—is an erect, hairy plant, ranging from two to five feet in height. Also called “soy” or “soya beans,” the spherical seeds, which develop in pods, are usually a creamy beige with a black, brown, or yellow hilum (seed scar).

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