Most seed vendors will carry edamame. In this area at least they are not found on the seed racks locally as there is very low demand. Johnny's has a good selection And yes, you are correct these are specific varieties of soybeans

Here is a link that might be useful: edamame seed

Botanical Interests have the edamame on their seed racks. So if you do not want to order online, find a place that carries Botanical Interests. In GA, that would be Pike's nursery.

Edamame soybeans are widely available, but the best variety selection is through mail order. Kitazawa is one of the better commercial sources. Johnny's carries "Butterbean", Territorial sells "Sayamusume", and SSE sells "Shirofumi", all of which are good varieties.

The best soybean source that I presently know of is a new site, Sage Thymes. He is a fellow soybean collector, and has most of my collection, plus others. You need to know what you are looking for, though, because many of his soybeans are for grain/processing, not edamame... I emailed him to let him know that he needs to have better descriptions. ;-) I could recommend the early varieties "Cha Kura Kake", "Natsu Kurakake", and "Sapporo Midori". "Karikachi 3" and "Tengamine" are later, but are two of the best flavored that I have tasted.

You can also get the Gardensoy line of edamame soybeans (developed by the University of Illinois) free, by requesting them here... scroll down to the link for Theresa Herman. If you make a request, be patient, they are not commercial & ship when it is convenient for them. I highly recommend "Gardensoy 24", it has good seed size & a great yield. The jury is still out on "Gardensoy 12", I am growing it for the second time this year, and it is proving to be later than decribed.

This post was edited by zeedman on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 18:59

This is great. I'll try some different varieties.