Its wild ancestor is a trailing vine unlike the upright bushy plants of most cultivated varieties. The soybean is a legume. It is not a true bean but no one has found a better name for it. Modern soybeans are from two to three feet high, have leaves with three leaflets, and bear short fuzzy pods each usually containing two or three beans. These seeds, when ripe, are nearly globular and vary in color from black or brown to green and creamy white.
Most modern varieties have golden yellow seeds.
Soybeans do not readily become tender when cooked in water. Orientals, during their long history, have found many other ways of preparing them. In the form of sprouts, soy sauce, paste, soybean cheese and curd they have been an important source of protein in the diet of Chinese and Japanese for centuries. Our familiar soy sauce is a brown salty liquid made by fermenting soybeans and rice for periods from 8 months to 5 years. It has a meaty tang.