The Azuki is a small (approximately 5mm) annualbean (Vigna angularis, Fabaceae) widely grown throughout northeast Asia and the Himalayas. The cultivars most familiar in northeast Asia have a uniform red color, but white, black, gray and variously mottled varieties are also known.
Names
The name azuki (also adzuki) is a transliteration of the Japanese 小豆, meaning "small bean"" (its counterpart "large bean" (大豆 daizu) being the soybean).
In Chinese, the azuki is known as 红小豆 (hong xiao dou, lit. "red small bean"), or more commonly 红豆 (hong dou, lit."red bean"), because almost all Chinese cultivars are uniformly red. In English-language discussions of Chinese topics, the term red bean is often used for azuki (especially in reference to red bean paste), but in other contexts this usage can cause confusion with other beans which are also red.
In Japan, rice with azuki beans (赤飯 sekihan) is traditionally cooked for auspicious occasions, such as New Year. Azuki beans are also used to produce amanattō.
The adzuki bean, sometimes spelled azuki or aduki, is a versatile bean well-loved in Japanese cooking.
Adzuki beans are quite small and are usually a deep red color with a sliver of white at the inseam.
Adzuki beans belong to the Phaseolus species and are generally categorized in the “red bean” family, although they are less common in the United States than other red beans such as the kidney bean and the small red bean.
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