Physical and chemical properties of edamame during bean development and application of spectroscopy-based machine learning methods to predict optimal harvest time

•The physicochemical properties of edamame vary at different growth stages.•Edamame harvested at the R6 growth stage has the best physicochemical properties.•Machine learning methods based on the pods’ spectra reflectance were developed.•The machine learning methods can identify the optimal harvest time of edamame.