Textured soy is a food that is obtained from the flour of this legume. It is a processed (but healthy, not all processed are bad) free of chemical additives and colorants. Once the soy flour is obtained, after extracting the oil from the beans and defatting them, it is subjected to an extrusion process that gives rise to a food that can look like pieces of dry bread, crumbs or crusts. It is textured soybeans.
It is usually sold dehydrated , in more or less thick pieces that go from fine textured soybeans (it resembles meat to minced meat) to portions similar to fillets through the thick format, similar to meat tacos and in strips. Being dehydrated, textured soybeans have a very long expiration date and do not require special storage conditions. You can also find textured soy as an ingredient in ready-to-eat preparations such as hamburgers or vegetable meatballs.
And what about its nutritional properties? Before entering the matter, we tell you that we are facing a very interesting food nutritionally speaking. It is an excellent source of protein (50 g of every 100 g of dry product is protein) and contains very little fat . It also has a significant amount of fiber and 30 g of carbohydrates per 100 g. Furthermore, “soy, unlike other legumes such as lentils or beans, contains a protein that can be considered complete or of high biological value , as it contains all the essential amino acids and in a suitable proportion and bioavailability”, explains Julia Jiménez. , dietitian-nutritionist and director of the Consultation of Psiconutrición I do not know what to eat. “As for trace elements, being a dehydrated product, its nutrients are concentrated , giving rise to a considerable amount of iron , in addition to calcium, potassium, phosphorus and B-complex vitamins.”
Without ceasing to think that it is a food with high protein density, Jiménez points out that the fact that it is consumed hydrated means that the amount of protein that we finally contribute to the body is less than that indicated in the nutritional table of the product . “If for each part of soy we have two of liquid, these nutritional values per 100 g dry are not really representative of the amount of protein and micronutrients that we will have in 100 g of hydrated final product, which will be approximately between ½ or 1/3 of its nutritional value when dry ”, says the expert.
How to consume textured soy
This food product from soy is usually consumed hydrated, but that does not mean that if you taste it “raw” something will happen to you. It is not bad but the taste is not even close to what you get when you cook it.
The typical thing, mainly among people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, is to cook it as if it were minced meat : to make bolognese, lasagna, cannelloni, hamburgers, meatballs, to fill aubergines, etc. This food, when hydrated, becomes porous, absorbing all the flavors as if it were a sponge and acquiring a soft and fibrous consistency, similar to that of meat.
Textured soy can be prepared in a number of ways. The most popular is to let it soak for 10-15 minutes until it swells and then drain it and prepare it as if it were minced meat (frying it in the pan). For soaking, water is usually used to which spices and / or aromatic herbs and soy sauce (to soak in flavor) or broth are added. If you use hot liquid you will accelerate the hydration process. If you spend time nothing happens. Another way to cook textured soy is by pouring it as is from the package so that it hydrates in the sauce that is being prepared. For example, if we are going to make a Bolognese. Finally, we can obtain a very tasty textured soybean and in record time if we put it directly in the pan with a drizzle of oil , lightly brown it with spices and / or aromatic herbs, add a little soy sauce and cover it with water. . We will put the fire on high and as soon as the soy has absorbed the liquid it will be ready to eat.
