Edamame
 

I bought some frozen shelled edamame today. I have no idea what to do with them. The package says to microwave or boil them, but then what? What do they taste like? Are they better hot or cold? I saw on pinterest a salad with cold edamame on it, and it looked good, but I have no idea how it will taste. Obviously the easy thing to do is heat them up and taste them. But I want to get an idea of what to do with them before I start. I did a search for "ways to eat edamame" on Pinterest, but barely anything came up and most of the stuff was the edamame in the pods. Can you eat the pods? Any insight into this strange and alien food to me would be appreciated.

Just boil them to heat them up and then toss them with some olive oil (or butter) and season with salt and pepper, like any other shelled bean. I think it would be a waste to use them in a rice-and-beans type casserole dish. They taste good alone.

In the pod, you steam them and then cool them, slip off the pods and eat them. When my kids were little, we were visiting friends who are Japanese. They had cold edamame in the pods in bowls in the living room. My kids loved the edamame and I caught them stuffing edamame in their pockets - sneaky!
That was our first exposure to that bean.
I think in Japan, edamame is a bar snack as well as a legitimate side vegetable.

I like to buy the edamame still in the shell. I warm them in the microwave and sprinkle with a little salt them pop the bean out of the shell and eat. The shell is probably edible but you aren't suppose to eat it. You can also sprinkle the beans on a salad to add a little protein :) They don't have a strong flavour and they have a nice firm texture.