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.
In the Orient, adzukibeans are usually cooked to a red soft consistency and served with such ingredients as coconut milk.
The AdzukiBean is not found in the wild.
Purity Foods was instrumental in the introduction of the bean to growers in Michigan in 1979 and has been active in development of varities with both the charastics demanded by consumers and improvment in yield for the growers.
At least 50 other beans and legumes are also used to make these pastes, but the adzukibean is the most prized, in large part due to its desirable red color, but also due to a delicate flavor and to the character-istic grainy texture of the pastes made from it.
Soil requirements for adzukibean are similar to that of drybeans.
Adzukibeans are poor competitors against weeds because of early slow growth, so a combination of chemicals and cultivation are required.
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