Black beans?

It's the season for black edamame beans now, so I see them being sold all over town. Giving food as a gift is a very common practice here, so whatever is in season, it's often passed on to neighbors and friends as a gift.

A friend of mine gave me a stalk of black edamame beans the other day, and as I was eating them, I wondered why they were called "black" beans, when they are actually green. They look the same as the regular green edamame beans on the outside, but it has a grayish-black skin around the actual bean, so maybe that's why they are called black edamame beans.

Ok, so I just asked my mom about it and the mystery got solved. The color change happens AFTER the edamame beans are dried! Once they are dried, they turn completely black and hard.

The custom here seems to be, if you go to a friend's house you're supposed to take some sort of food for the family, usually sweets it seems, as a gift. Likewise, guests to your home are supposed to bring food as a gift too. It's nice I guess, but kind of a hassle at the same time. At least for me, it feels like that.