Soybean harvest is just beginning here in Southern Kansas. It is an interesting crop that most people do not realize how much they use on a daily basis. I have been amazed at all the places you will find products made from soybeans.
I really think that soybeans should be called the Incredible
Edible and Industrial Bean. I have
totally been amazed at the number of places that soybeans can be found in the
grocery store, on the road just everywhere.
As I have said before in This Little Grain Went to Market,
we are on half way between a “local” processing plant and a port that the
soybeans can be loaded onto a barge and sent to the Gulf of Mexico and
exported. Soybeans that go to the local
processor are crushed and the oil is separated from the meal. Soybeans are 18-20% oil. 98% of the soybean meal in the United States
goes to feed livestock. Soybean meal is
a major component in pig, poultry and beef feeds.
The oil is found EVERYWHERE!
If you have ever bought a bottle of oil in the grocery store
labeled “vegetable oil”, chances are pretty high that it was soybean oil. I
think it would be far easier to have a wheat allergy or even nut allergy when
picking foods than soybeans. I can’t
remember where I learned this, but I have heard that nearly 75% of grocery
store items have soy in them. Not just
oil, but many stabilizers and preservatives are soy based as well.
Newspapers often use Soy Ink to print their newspapers.
What does the Statue of Liberty have to do with Soybeans? The hydraulic oil that runs the elevators is
made from soybeans.
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| A piece of the insulation that was cut out of a wall. |
When The Farmer and I selected insulation for our house, we
wanted spray foam insulation. We found a
supplier that used insulation that was soybean based.
The Farmer wanted the outside of our house to be stained
wood siding to look like an old barn.
When I started looking for stain, I chose stain that was soybean oil
based. I really came to like this stain
compared to other stains I have used. It
did not have a toxic smell to it. When
we got it on our hands and arms it washed off with soap and water. It stayed on the wood (and our clothes)
really well. Since we did most of the
outside work on our house, it took a quite a while. Before we applied the sealer to the outside
of the house it rained. The soybean oil
based stain helped shed water off the house wonderfully. If you are interested, the name of the stain is TimberSoy and no they didn't pay me to say that.
When The Farmer does maintenance on the farm equipment, he
has to grease the bearings. Did you know
he can choose a soy based grease for this instead of petroleum based.
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| Thanks to my friend Kelly Bradford for the picture from a recent game. |
I am not a huge fan of the Kansas State Football program (I
prefer Oklahoma State University), but KSU does have a really neat artificial
turf that used soybeans in the processing.
My favorite thing to hand out to school kids is soybean
based crayons. These are made by
Prang. They really have brighter colors
and don’t leave the white streaks when you really color hard and pretty.
Soy oil can also be used to make CD’s, plastics,
biodiesel and hundreds of other products.
Now you can see why I think soybeans should be called the Incredible Edible and Industrial Bean. What is your favorite use for soybeans?
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