Can worms eat edamame shells?

Worms can eat edamame shells either cooked or fresh. The shells are fibrous so will take longer for the worms to break down than the edamame bean. If you are cooking edamame, put the shells in your worm farm and your worms will love them.

Should I soak the cooked edamame shells before giving them to my worms?

Soak cooked edamame shells that have added salt before adding them to your worm farm. Adding any food with excess salt to your worm farm can be bad for your worms. If you want to add the edamame shells to your worm farm, then salt them after you have removed the beans from the shell. Then your shells will be salt free and ready for your worms to break down.

Should I feed edamame shells to worms or compost them?

Feed edamame shells to worms if you have a worm farm instead of composting them. The worms will break them down quicker than a cold compost pile and concentrate the nutrients left in the shells into the worm castings. The worm castings can then be added to your garden bed to improve the soil.

Can you compost edamame shells?

If you don’t have a worm farm you can compost edamame shells. To compost edamame shells simply mix them through your compost pile with brown materials such as fall leaves, straw or hay. Water the pile and they will break down over 3-6 months. Make sure that they don’t make up more than ¼ of the ingredients in your pile, if they do you will need to add fall leaves, straw or hay to balance the mix.

Can you eat edamame shells?

Edamame shells are tough and stringy so are not good to eat. You will chew for a long time on the fibrous shell. Edamame beans are eaten by popping them out of the shell once they are cooked. You can also buy frozen edamame beans which have already had the shell removed which are ready to cook. Edamame beans cannot be eaten raw and must be cooked before you eat them.

What else can I do with edamame shells in the garden?

If you grow edamame at home, and have excess shells, you can throw them straight onto your garden beds. These will dry up and act like a mulch. I would throw them under large trees, shrubs or flowering plants, not in your vegetable garden.

What are edamame beans?

Edamame beans are immature or young soy beans. They are popular in Japanese cuisine and are often served as a side dish, steamed. You squeeze the shell and pop the edamame beans into your mouth, they are usually salted so taste delicious. You will then have the edamame shells leftover for your worms.