Kuromame (Sweet Black Soybeans) literally “black bean (黒豆)” in Japanese, and it is often served on New Year’s Day as a part of Osechi Ryori (traditional New Year’s meal). The shiny black beans are beautifully contrasting with red lacquer “jubako” (お重箱) container, which holds all different kinds of colorful traditional meals. Eating kuromame is considered good for your health for the new year. My parents encouraged me to eat some kuromame on New Year’s Day but this is one of my favorite items among all the New Year’s dishes. Kuromame’s sweet and slightly savory flavor can be quite addicting. By the way, kuromame is black soybeans and not black beans. The kuromame recipe is pretty simple but the soybeans have to be soaked overnight and simmered on very low heat for a long time, some recipes say to cook on low heat for 8 hours! I only cook for 4 hours till my black soybeans are tender. I use a heavy-bottomed cast iron pot, which retains heat very well. Please test the doneness of your black soybeans and adjust your cooking time. If you have an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker, you can speed up the cooking process (15-minute high-pressure cooking!). Check out my Instant Pot Kuromame recipe.
The Trick to Achieve Beautiful Black Color on Beans
The reason why the Japanese put nails to cook kuromame is that rust (iron oxide) from nails has a chemical reaction with tannin in the beans, which helps the beans turn dark to a rich black color. I hope this delicious kuromame will bring you health for the new year.
Pressure Cooker Kuromame
If you have an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker, check out my Instant Pot Kuromame recipe. Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 27, 2012. New images have been added to the post in December 2019. The post was republished on December 28, 2023.
