Adzuki bean

Vigna angularis

legume

Small red beans from East Asia, almost always eaten sweet: boiled with sugar and worked into a paste, anko, which fills mochi, dorayaki, buns and mooncakes. They provide protein, fibre and iron.

Origin

China and Japan

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

Soaked for a few hours, they cook for 45 minutes to an hour until tender; eaten cooked, never raw — as sweet paste (anko), in soups or with rice. Soaking, sprouting or sourdough bring its phytates down — and release the zinc and iron they were holding.

Molecules

Resistant starch RS1 · GOS (galacto-oligosaccharides) · Plant iron · Protein · LysineIn small amounts, not counted ZincWhat slows things down Phytates

Did you know?

In Japan, rice cooked with adzuki beans, sekihan, is made for celebrations: its red and white recall the flag, and plenty.