{Week 21 Vegetable Bonus: Fresh Edamame}

(FYI, Edamame = Soy Beans)

I LOVE edamame now! (Thank you Jess for making me try it at Hibachi last year!)

It's such a yummy snack, but I always buy it frozen. I haven't found it fresh yet. So imagine my excitement when I recognized it at the local farmers market!

I had no idea it grew like this, but if I would have come across this a year ago, I would have had no clue what it even was! Oh how far I've come in the veggie world... (and still so far to go!)

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Two things to note: Fresh edamame is much fuzzier than the frozen... It's a little intimidating, but I built up the nerve to try them anyway.

The other thing: Fresh edamame must be refrigerated! I bought some last week and didn't know that... But this week I asked more questions before I bought it.

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I gave these suckers a good bath 3 times before I put them in the steamer. It really helped to get a lot of the fuzz off of them.

Then steam for about 5-6 minutes until bright green... sprinkle with some salt if desired...

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And to my delight, it was just as good as the frozen! I think steaming them must have softened the fuzz because I didn't notice it anymore than the frozen kind... And THESE ones were grown by local farmers with no chemicals... Yay! I love knowing where my food comes from and supporting our local farmers! :)

Side note if you haven't seen my earlier edamame post - You don't eat the pod! Well, BK tried, but it's not tasty. You just pop the bean out of the pod with your teeth or fingers and eat the bean inside.

I think I'm going to have to grow some of these in my garden next year!

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