O'Bean - So-ya Good!

May 02, 2012

We all grew up with soya beans. If you go to the market in the wee hours, you can smell soya bean being prepared to be sold as drinks or bean curd. Chinese believe that expectant mothers should take soybean and the older folks would prepare it together with barley so that they will eventually give birth to babies with abundance of hair and beautiful complexion. Soybean has probably the richest vegetable protein of all cereals. It has 20 amino acids 8 of which cannot be produced by the body. Protein helps protect our body and combats infection. Our heart, liver, kidney and eyeball are all protein. So are our hair and skin.

Amazingly, it is also rich in non-saturated fatty acids like Omega 3, linoleic, has vitamins B1, B2, E and helps reduce cholesterol and the list goes on. Wholesome goodness I must say. There are health benefits aplenty in that soy improves bone health as soy isoflavones may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and reported to relief menopausal symptoms. There are reports that when soy products are ingested regularly, the rate of cardiovascular diseases become low. It may also help prevent certain kinds of cancer like breast, prostrate and colon cancer.

There is this shop near the office called O'bean - the organic soya store. If it had been old bean it would mean lao dou 老豆. There has been a regular following there and in recent times I have read about people lining up for soya bean curd at various places. This one is at Orchid Hotel at Tras Link along Tanjong Pagar.

You can find out and read about all its goodness but they prided themselves by giving 8 pointers to look out for a better quality "organic" soya powder.

It is non G.M.O. product, 100% organic from cultivation to production (no additives, no preservatives, no artficial colour, no chemical), a healthier choice, vegetarian and halal certified, high protein, rich in calcium and very importantly "purine removed" thus making it suitable for all for daily consumption even for people with gout, arthritis and is suitable for diabetics.

It also has an impressive list of not only drinks like signature soya, bird's nest soya, orange ginger soya, red bean soya, almond soya, green tea, red tea soya, etc. but also a range of desserts and some interesting food like soya porridge with peanut or century egg.