Adzuki bean is a food and a plant. A small, dried, russet-colored bean with a sweet flavor. The plant is an annual vine.

• botanical information
• nutritional information
• preparation
• ritual uses
• Chinese herbology

botanical information:

    Botanical name: Paseolus angularis

    Common name: adzuki bean, aduki beans, azuki beans

    Use the botanical name when ordering seeds (bulbs, etc.) or when looking up information in the library. Common names vary by nation, culture, and region, and sometimes the same common name is applied to different plants.

    Family: Fabaceae (bean)

origin:

    Origin: Himalayas

history:

    History: First domesticated in the Himalayas. Adzuki beans were cultivated in China and Korea before 1,000 B.C.E. Imported to Japan, where it is now the second most popular legume after soybean. In Japanese, the “small bean” is adzuki and the “large bean” is soy.

nutritional information:

    Aduki beans are a food that helps nourish the kidneys.

    Aduki beans are a food that increases sexual energy and enhances fertility.

nutritional value per 1 cup dried cooked adzuki beans:

• Calories: 294 calories
• Proteins: 17 grams
• Fat: trace
• Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
• Carbohydrates: 57 grams
• Fiber: 17 grams
• Sodium: 18 milligrams

    See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.

preparation:

    In East Asian cuisine the azuki bean is usually eaten as a red bean paste (made by boiling adzuki beans and sugar, sometimes with chestnut). In Japanese cuisine azuki beanm sugar, lotus seeds, and orange peel are boiled to create a red bean soup.

picture from Japanese version of Wikipedia

ritual uses:

    Ritual uses: In Japan, rice with azuki beans is traditionally cooked for auspicious occassions.

Chinese herbalism:

    Chinese gender: neutral

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