Edenews April 2024
Pure natural food not only tastes and nourishes best, it cleanses, allows us to heal, and imparts clarity. Look Good and Feel Great.
Native to East Asia, the soybean is a human food cornerstone. It has been for over half the world for thousands of years. Properly prepared, soybeans are excellent food rich in complete protein, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. The dairy and meat industry has spent $ billions telling people the exact opposite to discourage soybeans from becoming human food in America as that would threaten soy’s cheap animal feed status. Soybeans as food for people creates an alternative to food monopolies. Industry, politics, and the media collude to maintain a status quo of self-defeating agricultural policies, cheap junk food, cheap animal feed, and hyper-expensive sick care.
Modern, commercially made imitation food and food supplements from chemically processed GMO soybeans are anti-nutritious. They are what lead people to express concern about commercially processed soyfood. It is not the soybean that must be shunned, but the toxic commercial processing and patented gene manipulations of them. The easy money mentality underlying industrialized, poor quality food must be removed from the food chain entirely. It should be illegal. The results of it are resoundingly evident in horrendous quality, commercial, food-like counterfeits and their sickening impact on America.
Preparation of good food from soybeans requires know-how and due diligence in carrying it out; e.g. regular beans take 45 minutes to 2 hours to cook at home, while soybeans require at least 5 to 6 hours. Soy specific cooking is called for because of enzymes in soy that must be broken down in order to unlock its nutritional storehouse. Long cooking time, fermentation, and certain combinations of temperature and pressure reliably accomplish this. Where animals can easily digest soy, humans must have soy prepared properly first.
Whole soybean benefits to people are confirmed. In 1999 the FDA declared the role of soy in reducing cholesterol: “25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” These, and other published facts, caused ‘the establishment’ to fund massive, sophisticated campaigns to dissuade Americans from soybeans. Yet research and empirical evidence demonstrate the considerable value of well-made, whole bean soyfood.
As soy became popular for its health benefits, food makers rushed through shortcuts to make imitations and exploit soy’s popularity. The vast majority of soyfood consumed in the U.S. is not whole bean soyfood like those Eden Foods offers. Though commonly labeled as healthy, soy products are usually petrochemical processed and made from GMO soybeans.
Unwelcome GMOs were large-scale injected into human food in the 1990s. Patented GMO resistance to patented toxic agricultural chemicals (glyphosate and others) resulted in massive accumulation of toxins in food and people’s diets. The harmful effects on people of toxins and GMOs in grain, beans, and soybeans has been well known, but only recently is the public learning about it.
Cheap GMO soy is very profitable as feed for cattle, pigs, chickens, livestock in general, and people. Hurried processes disassemble soybeans into hulls, soy oil, soy lecithin, carbohydrates, and soy protein isolate. The oil is hexane (neurotoxic petrochemical) extracted. The defatted soy is chemically processed further to remove odor, taste, and fiber, and then chemically ’washed.’ Cheap byproducts from these processes are added to food and animal feed. The whole systems pollutes and poisons.
EDEN Soyfood
Traditional, fermented, and minimally processed soyfoods remain the healthiest. Authentic Miso, Shoyu soy sauce, natto, and tempeh are good examples. EDENSOY soymilk and tofu are good soyfoods that are not fermented. EDEN soyfood is organic, non-GMO, made from whole soy, and never chemically adulterated. EDENSOY is U.S. made. EDEN fermented soyfoods are traditional artisan versions from whole soy.
Modern soyfoods abandon centuries-old, intuitively intelligent methods of preparation. They are replaced with poorly motivated, much cheaper, must quicker, mass volume shortcuts. U.S. food processors have exploited soy for decades as a cheap protein source, and in recent years as a ‘health food.’ Commercial soy uses toxic chemicals, GMOs, and undeclared, untoward processing chemicals that destroy nutritional value. Their industrial preparation fails to breakdown lectins. Fermentation and thorough cooking easily handle this. EDEN soyfood are ideal examples of this.
Soy, like other grain and beans, contain lectins, so-called anti-nutrients. These natural phytochemicals are a plant’s ‘personal defense’ system. They erroneously lie at the heart of soy disparagement. When properly prepared, this is not an issue with soyfood. Only in careless, cheap, and sloppy preparation (commercial soyfood) is this an issue. Whether a particular soyfood, or any food, is good or bad for you depends upon what it is made from and how it is prepared.
Artisan Food
Authentic, organic, traditional soyfood is encouraged by Eden Foods. They are made the traditional, artisan way without GMO soybeans or any untoward additives.
• Genuine unpasteurized Mugi (barley) Miso and Brown Rice & Barley Miso are fermented organic soybeans, organic grain, and koji culture. The artisan is essential. Both misos are ideal for everyday use in any season, traditionally fermented in Japan by a company doing so since 1854. The one-way valve on each package lets ferment gas escape, but prevents air from entering the recloseable miso tub. No refrigeration is necessary until opened.
• EDEN Genmai (brown rice) Miso is mellow after it is completely aged. Hacho (soybean) Miso is the richest and darkest miso after three years fermentation. Sweetest and lightest is EDEN Shiro (white rice) Miso, aged for two months. Organic, non-GMO soybeans and organic grain are cleaned, steamed, sea salted, and inoculated with koji Aspergillus oryzae culture starter to age in large kegs. The length of fermentation depends upon ingredients, type of koji, tending methods, weather, and the desired results. Fermentation transforms the miso ingredients into a wonderfully beneficial superfood.
• EDEN Shoyu and Tamari soy sauces result from ancient koji fermentation of soy. Shoyu’s magic is from the grain added that the koji is grown on. Only whole, non-GMO, organic soybeans, organic wheat, water, and sea salt are used. Tamari is similarly made, but without the mellowing effect of grain. Both are aged in large casks for two years at natural temperatures in the same manner used for over 600 years. The amazing quality of good shoyu is that its taste disappears as it enhances and harmonizes the tastes of the food it is used with. Tamari imparts a strong taste, it is not traditionally intended for kitchen use.
• EDEN Ponzu (five-flavor soy sauce) combines shoyu, rice vinegar, mirin, malt syrup, and citrus juice from yuzu and sudachi fruit. It is uniquely delicious on vegetables, proteins, noodles, and salads with no chemical additives. Diluted, it makes an appealing noodle dipping sauce.
• Dried Tofu is natural nigari (magnesium chloride and calcium sulfate coagulant) tofu made from non-GMO soybeans. The fresh tofu is freeze-dried over 20 days to remove the water.
• EDEN Tekka is a rich, hacho miso condiment of minced carrots, burdock root, lotus root, and unrefined sesame oil; a strengthening, very yang condiment.
• America’s Best Soymilk ∼ Authentic Purity Since 1983
EDENSOY was America’s first, and remains the best, soymilk. American made, demand for it set the standard for, and created, a new non-dairy liquid food category in 1983. There are seven varieties of EDENSOY. It is the only U.S. soymilk skillfully prepared to nourish. Authentically organic, non-GMO ingredients, meticulous engineering, with 240 continuous quality control checks to ensure its great taste and easy to assimilate nourishment. EDENSOY was also America’s first Non-GMO verified soymilk. No refined sugar, chemical additives, flavor maskers, or other undeclared ingredients are needed or used. EDENSOY is the only non-dairy liquid food with a bit of kombu sea vegetable to provide trace minerals and taste enhancing benefits.
Best Soy
Cornucopia Institute rates EDEN soyfoods with its highest 5-bean rating, scoring 955 out of 1,000 in their year-and-half study, the Organic Soy Scorecard. For non-dairy drinks, the scorecard ranks Unsweetened EDENSOY with a perfect score. It compiled results from a year-and-a-half study on the social, environmental, and health impact of soyfood in North America. Criteria such as stringency of organic practices, prevention of GMO and chemical contamination, taste, and dedication to organic farmers were the focus. Cornucopia Institute, an independent advocate working to preserve organic integrity and create economic justice for family farmers, created the scorecard system to better educate consumers. See the full report at cornucopia.org.
Eden Foods offers the best of what soyfood offers through careful selection of ingredients and adherence to authentic, traditional processing to ensure the food is not only nutritious, but also aligned with the company’s environmental and social values and work.
A Principled Natural Food Company
Principles that respect, encourage, and contribute to life’s well-being. Principles that encourage commonsensical, straightforward, and forthright dealings between people. Fundamental truth has guided Eden Foods since 1968.
Translating macrobiotic principles into dietary suggestions points to a basic need of pure whole grain being the fulcrum of one’s balanced diet. Once that is accomplished, most everything else will take care of itself at all levels; personal, mental, physical, emotional, societal, economic, political, spiritual, environmental, and interpersonal.
Improved judgment and intuition results over time.
A transition from commercial food to healthy food centered upon whole grain is not an easy process. It is a basic necessity to accomplish freedom, harmony, and to nourish wellness. The change requires focused persistence. Considerable experience and knowledge about food, its uses, and benefits are available to help those who work to experience this joyous revival.