Autumn Beans

Azuki Beans- the main ingredient in sweet bean paste, the essence of so many Japanese desserts and snacks. Azuki beans are used for sekihan as well, a kind of sticky steamed rice and beans prepared for celebrations flavored lightly with salt, sake and a dash of sugar. The are easy enough to grow but harvesting is tricky. The little pods are ready at different times, so we hand pick them over the course of about 2 weeks, only harvesting the ones that are ready. We lay the pods out on a blue plastic sheet, walk over them or hit them with whatever is handy and let them dry in the sun until we store them in jars. Obachan favors old sake bottles because they measure 1-sho (1.8 liters).

Azuki aren't the only beans ready to pop out of their pods. The picture on

the right shows the field of daizu or soybeans. No more edamame here, the leaves are turning golden and brown, withering on the stem leaving the drying pods of soybeans. This isn't our field - we only planted a few plants in the garden - but we would cut these with the

weed cutter, set them stems up in clusters to dry a bit, then feed the clusters of plants into a machine to remove the beans. The co-op has a bigger machine that is like a combine just for soybeans. The stems are very woody and tough so our regular harvester can't handle it. These soybeans are used for local natto (fermented soybeans) and local dishes and they get a good price because they are locally grown. More than 80% of the soybeans used in Japan are imported.