Knowra Adzuki bean Adzuki bean Adzuki bean is the cultivated legume Vigna angularis, grown for small edible seeds. Its seeds are especially prominent in East Asian cuisines, where they appear in both sweet and savory dishes.
Anko : A sweet paste made by cooking and sweetening adzuki beans, often used as a filling or topping. Anko is the best-known transformation of adzuki seeds in Japanese confectionery.
Vigna : A genus of flowering plants in the legume family that includes several cultivated beans and pulses. Adzuki bean belongs to this genus alongside crops such as mung bean and cowpea.
Domestication of plants : The process by which people adapt wild plants over generations for cultivation and human use. Adzuki’s cultivated form emerged through long-term selection from wild relatives.
Mung bean : The small green seed of Vigna radiata, widely used in Asian cuisines and sprouted as a vegetable. Mung beans are another small Asian Vigna pulse, but differ in color and common preparations.
Red bean soup : A sweet soup made with red beans, commonly served hot or chilled in East Asian cuisines. Adzuki beans give this dessert soup its characteristic flavor and texture.
Fabaceae : The flowering-plant family commonly called legumes, including beans, peas, lentils, and many other species. Adzuki bean shares the family’s characteristic fruit and nitrogen-fixing relationships.
East Asia : A region generally comprising China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. The crop has a long history of cultivation and food use across this region.
Kidney bean : A large, kidney-shaped seed of Phaseolus vulgaris, eaten cooked in many cuisines. Its size, shape, and savory uses contrast with adzuki’s small seeds and frequent use in sweets.
Mooncake : A round pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, often filled with sweet bean paste. Adzuki paste is one of the fillings used in several mooncake traditions.
Legume : A plant in the family Fabaceae, or its seed or pod used as food. The crop is a legume whose seeds are harvested as pulses.
Show all 21