Homemade Kinako: Soybeans, a Mortar, Pestle, and a Five Year Old
Product Inspection -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — full exif
Product Inspection

Soybeans are the building blocks of nature. Lower on the periodic table than even hydrogen, all matter in the universe is made from some form of soybeans. When roasted, they are not only useful for driving out demons, they can be ground into a fine, tasty flour called kinako. I've mentioned kinako in passing before (in Aburi-Mochi: Grilled Mochi on Skewers, and in Preschool Mochi Production).

Today, Anthony and Mommy made some kinako, just for fun.

Mortar and Pestle borrowed from Fumie's folks -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — full exif
Mortar and Pestle
borrowed from Fumie's folks
You Just Know a 5-Year-Old Enjoys This -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/1.8, ISO 800 — full exif
You Just Know a 5-Year-Old Enjoys This
Earnest Toil -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.8, ISO 800 — full exif
Earnest Toil
Picking out the Shells -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — full exif
Picking out the Shells

The roasted beans have a thin, brittle shell/husk/skin(?) that one normally eats with the beans, but which pops off when you grind them in the mortar. It made for a bit of a mess because they could sometimes fly fairly far.

You can sort of see them in the shot below, which I took of some chopstick holders that happened to be sitting on the table. There wasn't much light, so I was at f/2 or wider most of the time (f/1.6 in the shot below), resulting in very little depth of field....

Chopstick Holders -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.6, ISO 800 — full exif
Chopstick Holders
Halfway There -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — full exif
Halfway There
Mommy Makes Quick Work of the Balance -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — full exif
Mommy Makes Quick Work of the Balance
Should Be Tasty With Strawberries -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — full exif
Should Be Tasty With Strawberries

Indeed, it was. It's amazing how the ground up roasted beans tasted different than the roasted beans. We dipped the strawberries in, and it was good.

He's Five, What Do You Expect? -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/40 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — full exif
He's Five, What Do You Expect?

All 3 comments so far, oldest first...

Hi,
Can you please tell how you roast the soybeans and for how long? I’ll trying to make my own kinako as well.
Thank you.

— comment by Van Lam on July 23rd, 2008 at 12:25pm JST (15 years, 8 months ago) comment permalink

Hi Jeffrey,
I’ve been poring over your blog all weekend since I stumbled onto it while looking for a “Kinako Flour” recipe.
I did find the recipe somewhere else, but boy, am I glad about the internet serendipity fairy! I love your photos – great quality AND style!
Oh, and this comment is from New Zealand.

— comment by Rebecca on May 17th, 2010 at 7:57am JST (13 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

This little boy is so cute.

— comment by Emily on May 28th, 2010 at 4:39am JST (13 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink
Leave a comment...


All comments are invisible to others until Jeffrey approves them.

Please mention what part of the world you're writing from, if you don't mind. It's always interesting to see where people are visiting from.

IMPORTANT:I'm mostly retired, so I don't check comments often anymore, sorry.


You can use basic HTML; be sure to close tags properly.

Subscribe without commenting