History of soyabeans is as old over 4000 years, over 2000 years before birth of Christ. The soya plant (Glycine max) was cultivated in China before 3000 B.C. The first written record is a 2200 B.C. farming manual advising Chinese cultivators, who are said to recognized the real health value of this great yellow jewel, how to get the best from their crop.

Chinese Emperor Shen-nong declared soyabeans as one of the five sacred crops. He compiled earliest known medical treatise, which was translated as The Medical Bible of Yellow Emperor. He researched the healing properties of over 100 plants and considered the soyabeans as most significant. It has been an important food ingredient of China , Manchuria , Japan , Korea , Malaysia over centuries. Though it originated from South West Asia, now it is grown all over the world. It is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and US among health and diet conscious people.

Tofu, which is produced from soyabeans, was first used in China over 2,000 years ago.  Experts believe that its production began sometime during the Han dynasty , in the second century B.C. According to one Chinese legend, tofu was invented when a cook decided to experiment by flavoring a batch of cooked soybeans with the compound nagari.  Instead of flavored soybeans, he wound up with bean curd.  Nagari is frequently used in the production of tofu today.  From China , tofu was introduced into Korea , and reached Japan in the eight century A.D.