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(Black soybeans)

These are boiled soybeans, cooked to wish for good health.
My mother's hometown is in Hokkaido. My grandmother sends us black beans grown in Tokachi every year. My mother cooks the black beans for the New Year. Tokachi black beans are small and soft. These beans have been improved over the years, and have the added benefit of being organically grown in Hokkaido's excellent climate, using a minimum of chemical additives.

Recipe for black beans (serves ten)

Ingredients
Black beans 300g
Soy sauce 3 tbls
Sugar 500g
Water 800 cc
1. Wash the beans, and soak in 800 cc of water overnight.
2. Boil the beans in the same water for 3 hours over low heat.

3. Keep adding water so that the beans are always covered, or they will become shriveled.
4. After the beans become soft, cover, and steam for about ten minutes.

5. Add sugar and soy sauce.
Points
* While boiling, remove scum with a ladle.
* Keep adding water so that the water is always above the beans or the beans will become shriveled.
* Don't boil too long, or the beans will become hard.

Nutritional value (Per one hundred grams)
Calories 417 kcal
Protein 35.3g
Phosphorus 580 mg
Calcium 1900 mg
Potassium 240 mg
Iron 9.4 mg
Vitamin B1 0.84 mg
Vitamin B2 0.30 mg