A soybean is a hard, dry bean that can be yellow, black or brown.
Soybeans belong to the family of legumes - the same family as peas and lentils.
Maybe you haven't tasted a whole soybean, but you have probably tasted many foods that have soy to make them high quality. Soybeans can be made into foods like soy sauce or soy milk. Soybeans also can be turned into ingredients used in noodles, breads, meat patties, peanut butter spreads, sports drinks and many other foods. To find out if your favorite food has soybeans in it, just look on the label. You may see soy flour, soy protein, soy isolate or soy oil.