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.
Azuki seeds are subcylindric with subtruncated ends with a length of 5.0 to 9.1 mm, width of 4.0 to 6.3 mm, thickness of 4.1 to 6.0 mm, and weight of 50 to 250 mg/seed (McClary 1990).
Azuki is or could be grown in ecosystems with between 530 to 1730 mm of annual precipitation, a 7.8° to 27.8°C range in mean annual air temperature, a soil pH between 5.0 to 7.5 and up to 48deg.N latitude (Duke 1981).
Azuki an, either in a smooth or chunky form, is used in numerous East Asian foods and desserts such as cakes, manju (steamed an-filled buns), yokan (cold gelatinized an slices), taiyaki (an-filled waffle), ice cream, snow cone toppings, and as a base for a beverage served hot from vending machines (Shiruko).
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