Plant
Adzuki bean
Vigna angularis
Also known as: Vigna angularis, azuki bean, red bean, red mung
A small reddish-brown legume domesticated in East Asia, central to Japanese, Korean, and Chinese sweet cuisine as the source of *anko* (sweetened red bean paste) — the filling of dorayaki, mooncakes, daifuku, taiyaki, and dozens of other confections. Cultivated primarily in China, Japan, and Korea; Hokkaido is the most prestigious growing region for Japanese-grade adzuki. Unlike most pulses, adzuki is more often eaten sweet than savory.
Scientific
Vigna angularis is in family Fabaceae. Bushy annual 30–90 cm tall with trifoliate leaves, yellow flowers, and slender pods of 6–14 small red-brown (occasionally white, black, or mottled) seeds with a characteristic white hilum stripe. Short growing season (~90 days) and well-adapted to cool-temperate East Asian summers. Like other Vigna species, fixes atmospheric nitrogen.
Cultural
Adzuki was domesticated in East Asia — likely independently or in parallel in China, Korea, and Japan; the earliest archaeobotanical records are in Japan by ~4,000 years ago. The dominant culinary use is sweet: beans simmered with sugar into anko paste, used to fill daifuku, dorayaki, manju, taiyaki in Japan; patbingsu and steamed patbap in Korea; mooncakes, zongzi, and red bean soup in China. Adzuki rice (sekihan) is a Japanese celebratory dish — the beans dye the rice pink, traditionally served at birthdays and weddings.
Global production
China is the largest producer, followed by Japan and South Korea. Within Japan, Hokkaido produces the largest share and the highest grades — Tokachi adzuki from Hokkaido is the benchmark for premium anko. Limited cultivation in the U.S. (Pacific Northwest), Canada, and New Zealand mostly supplies East Asian export markets.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Shares approach with: [[mung-bean]] · [[soybean]]
- Member of: [[plants]]
Sources
- FAO pulse statistics
- Japanese Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) crop statistics
- Wikipedia — Adzuki bean
A plant entry in the 0mn1.one [[directory]].
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Scientific
substrate of
- Korean Peninsula Korea is one of the principal global producers and consumers of adzuki bean for *patbingsu*, *patbap*, and other sweet-bean preparations
shares approach with
- Mung bean both Vigna pulses originating in Asia; mung in South Asia, adzuki in East Asia — used interchangeably in some sweet bean paste traditions
2 inbound links · 3 outbound