2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Soy (lat. Glycine max) - a herbaceous annual from the well-known legume family.
History
Soy is rightfully considered one of the oldest crops, as it has been cultivated for more than five thousand years. It first appeared in China: turtle shells, bones and stones were decorated with drawings of soybeans. And then this culture gradually penetrated into Korea and the Japanese islands.
Description
Soy is a plant endowed with bare or pubescent stems, which can be either quite thick or very thin. And their height can vary from fifteen centimeters to two meters.
Soybean ternary leaves are characterized by feathery venation and well-visible pubescence. And two simple primordial leaves firmly sit on the first supra-cotyledon nodule.
The corolla of soybean flowers can be colored both in white and in a wide variety of purple shades. As for its fruits, they look like beans, containing a couple of seeds each and opening with both valves both along the dorsal and ventral sutures. All beans are very resistant to cracking and are quite large in size - their size ranges from four to six centimeters.
Oval soybean seeds can have completely different bulges. And the size of the seeds is often radically different - they are both small and very large.
Where grows
Huge soybean plantations are located in South and North America, on the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as in Australia, South Europe and Asia. This culture grows very well in South or Central Africa.
Application
Soy is actively used as a useful and relatively inexpensive substitute for a number of dairy products and meat, and is often added to feed intended for young farm animals. It is also an essential ingredient for vegan nutrition.
How can you explain the fact that soy can easily turn into a wonderful sausage, mouth-watering pâté or aromatic meat stew? The fact is that she is endowed with the ability to instantly absorb almost any tastes and aromas. And since this culture does not have its own aroma and taste, it can easily replace various products.
Thus, the incredible popularity of soybeans is due not only to the fact that it is very rich in protein and boasts excellent yields, but also to the fact that it is endowed with truly unique properties that allow you to get a wide variety of products from it. Soy contains B vitamins, potassium, calcium and iron, as well as essential polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linolenic and linoleic acids.
The health benefits of soy cannot be underestimated either. People who regularly consume this product are unlikely to experience allergies, osteoporosis, obesity, or coronary heart disease. In addition, soy significantly reduces the risk of developing dysbiosis and cancer, and even helps to increase life expectancy.
True, everything is fine in moderation, and you should not abuse soy products either. If you ignore this rule, especially in relation to children, then they can easily stop growing or develop insufficient thyroid function. Also, abuse of soy products can lead to conjunctivitis, colitis, diarrhea, eczema, bronchospasm, asthma, dermatitis, rhinitis, urticaria and a number of other ailments. And it can also significantly harm the kidneys. And since soy proteins provoke all kinds of hormonal changes in the human body, it is important for pregnant women to try to refuse to include any soy products in their diet.
