The soybeans are served in a similar manner to how we would serve peanuts in the United States, the entire pods are served and the consumers shell the soybean seed from the green pod. Any large seeded variety would be appropriate for this use. Another use is nattoj which requires a small seed size. Examples of small seed size varieties are Mercury and IA2005. Other small seeded varieties would also be appropriate for natto.
Soybean sprouts is the other special use soybean that also requires a small seed size.
The soybean sprouts would be served on a salad bar in the place of alfalfa sprouts or mungbean sprouts. Small seed is important to satisfy the need of the consumer. T here are additional general use soybeans such as those that have been manipulated through breeding to have special characteristics such as low lipoxygenase, which results in a reduced beany flavor in the final product. Beany flavor is a characteristic of soy food products that is objectionable to most western populations and, therefore, the low lipoxygenase soybean products should be more acceptable. A second characteristic which has been developed is low linolenic acid which provides more flavor stability in the final food products, meaning that flavor changes within the food are less likely to occur with low linolenic acid content.