Kacang Kedele

Glycine maximus. This is the soy or soya bean, which the world’s food experts tell us we are going to have to get used to eating in much larger quantities as other staple foods get dearer. There are over 2000 varieties, but the only two the cook needs to know about are the two leading groups— yellow beans and black beans—and even these two colours have often been lost sight of by the time the processed vegetable reaches the shop or the market. Let us be clear about one thing, however: it is not essential for soya beans to be fermented or otherwise transformed before they can be eaten. Fresh beans, boiled in the pod and then shelled, are a popular and cheap food in countries where they are grown.