Organic black soybeans.

Black soybeans are the same plant as ordinary soybeans, with a shiny black skin. Split one open and the inside is pale yellow or green. Cooked, they stay firm and taste a little sweeter and nuttier than yellow soybeans, and the skin turns the cooking water a deep purple-black. They are well known in Japanese and Korean home cooking, often simmered sweet or cooked into rice.

Ways to use it

• Simmer soaked beans slowly with sugar and a pinch of salt until soft and glossy, for a sweet side dish.
• Cook a handful together with rice. The rice comes out a soft lilac colour.
• Blend soaked beans with water, strain and boil the liquid for a grey-lilac soy milk.
• Dry-roast the beans in a pan until the skins crack and they smell toasty, then steep them in hot water as a roasted bean drink.
• Add cooked beans to soups, stews and salads, the way you would any firm bean.

Pick over the beans, rinse them, then soak in plenty of water for 8 hours or overnight. Simmer gently in fresh water for a couple of hours, until tender. Keep the heat low so the skins stay on.

Storing it

Unopened, the pack keeps in a cool, dry cupboard out of the sun. Once opened, move the beans into a jar with a tight lid. Cooked beans go into a covered box in the fridge and keep for a few days.

Where it comes from

Grown to certified organic standards. The certificate for each lot is shown when you trace your pack.

Every pack will carry a lot code. Enter it on the Trace your pack page and you will see the farms in that lot, the packing date and the certificate.