Corn and soybeans are found in many of the products that consumers eat and use daily; however, most consumers are unaware that these homegrown commodities are used in everyday foods and products.
In the spirit of giving, each year the Nicollet/Sibley County Corn & Soybean Growers fill their carts with these products to donate to the St. Peter Area Food Shelf and the Sibley County Food Shelf. The charitable contribution has become an annual tradition for the farmer-leaders.
“I always look forward to this event each year,” Nicollet/Sibley County Corn and Soybean Board Chair Brett Annexstad said. “Not only are we educating others about our products, but we are also giving back during the holidays.”
While browsing the rows at the New Ulm HyVee, the board is always fascinated by all the products they find that contain corn and soybean. They use the list below to help them identify finding their soybean products:
- Edamame
- Kinako flour
- Kyodofu (freeze-dried tofu)
- Lecithin (sometimes in cooking sprays)
- Miso
- Monoglycerides
- Diglycerides
- Natto
- Okara (soy pulp)
- Shoyu
- Soybean
- Soy sauce
- Soya
- Supro
- Tamari
- Tempeh
- Teriyaki sauce
- Textured soy flour (TSF)
- Textured soy protein (TSP)
- Textured vegetable protein
- Textured vegetable protein (TVP)
- Tofu
- Yakidofu
- Yuba
Take a closer look and you’ll see that soy is everywhere.
“Sometimes it is hard to find the byproducts of soybeans,” Annexstad said. “However, once you look deeper into the label we are able to find tons of consumer items that have soybeans in them.”
In total, the board donated about 450 pounds of items to the food shelfs.
The Nicollet/Sibley County Corn & Soybean Growers Organization is affiliated with the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, which oversees the investment of soybean checkoff dollars on behalf of nearly 28,000 soybean farmers in Minnesota. The Council is governed by the rules of a federally mandated checkoff program that requires all soybean producers pay a fee on the soybeans they sell. This money is used to promote, educate and develop market opportunities for soybeans.
