alt="image"/>
A layout of green mung, white soy, and red adzuki beans.
Adzuki beans are popular in Japan. The pods, which grow to about 4 inches, contain reddish seeds; the flowers are rose colored. Mung beans have purplish yellow flowers, hairy pods that grow to about 4 inches, and green seeds. Both are bushy plants that reach about 3 feet tall. Soybeans are a powerhouse of nutrition and the major source of protein for many Asians. The white- and black-seeded ones are generally used as dry beans, the green-seeded ones for fresh eating. Soybean plants have fuzzy leaves, stems, and pods and grow to about 2 feet. The tiny flowers are white or lilac.
How to grow: Soy, adzuki, and mung beans are all annuals, grown much as you would regular bush beans. Plant after all danger of frost is past and the soil has warmed to at least 60°F. Plant in full sun in a well-drained garden loam. Sow seeds 1 inch deep in rows 24 inches apart. Thin seedlings to 4 inches apart. (Wider spacing is needed for soybeans in southern areas.) Once established, water deeply and infrequently. If the plants look pale at midseason, fertilize with fish emulsion.
The Mexican bean beetle can be a pest in certain areas. Phytophthora can be a problem for soybeans, especially in overly moist soil.
You can eat the immature pods of both adzuki and mung beans or let them mature and use the beans fresh shelled or dried. Harvest soybeans for fresh shelling when the pods are plump but still green or let them dry before harvesting. If letting the beans dry on the plant, harvest after the plant turns brown. Pull up the whole plant and hang to dry completely in a warm, dry place. Shell the beans and store them in airtight containers in a cool, dry place.
Varieties
Mung and Adzuki Varieties
Mung and adzuki beans are usually not available as named varieties. Vermont Bean Seed Company and Evergreen Y. H. Enterprises carry them.
Adzuki: 60 days pods, 90 days mature seeds; high yields; pods contain 7-10 beans
Mung: 90 days mature; pods contain 7-9 beans; use for plants or sprouting if not treated with fungicides
Soybean Varieties
Johnny’s Select Seeds, Evergreen Y. H. Enterprises, and Kitazawa Seed Company carry a few varieties.
‘Butterbeans’: 90 days, fresh; green beans, buttery flavor; high yields, good fresh
‘Envy’: 75 days, fresh; very early, short-season favorite; green beans good fresh or dried
Soy, Verde: 98 days; not for northern climates; very nutty flavor; 3-foot bushes with pea-sized green beans
Soybean plants (above); soybeans (below)
[How to Sprout Mung and Soybeans]
It is amazingly easy to sprout bean seeds, which can be a fun project for children. Purchase seeds in bulk from an Asian grocery or a health-food store, or order sprouting seeds from a mail-order nursery. When obtaining them from a nursery, make sure the seeds have not been treated with a fungicide that is applied to aid sprouting in cold soils.
Of the several ways to sprout beans, the easiest is to put ½ cup of seeds in a clean 1-quart widemouthed mason jar and cover the top of the jar with cheesecloth tied with string. Soak the bean seeds in water overnight and drain them the next morning. Put the jar in a cool, dark place, like a closet, to sprout. Rinse the seeds with cold water 2 to 3 times a day to cool the growing sprouts and provide moisture (more often in warm weather). Drain them well each time. Repeat the process for 4 or 5 days or until the seeds have sprouted and are about 1½ inches long. Once the sprouts are ready, rinse them well to remove most of the hulls and refrigerate them. The sprouts deteriorate quickly and are best used within a day. Your mung and soy sprouts will be curlier and a little smaller than those grown commercially, but they taste the same. One word of caution: Soybean sprouts need to be cooked before they are eaten.
How to prepare: Green soybeans can be cooked in numerous ways when fresh or allowed to mature and used as dry beans. Add raw fresh beans to raw rice and cook them together, as they cook up at the same rate.
The great majority of white soybeans in Asia are made into soy products or consumed as sprouts. The latter use is particularly prevalent in Cantonese dishes, where they are stir-fried or used in soups. In Korea, the sprouts are used for salads (see recipe, page 78), and in a stew with pork.
(Caution: Soy sprouts are not edible in their raw state and are always eaten cooked.) The Japanese enjoy the fresh green soybeans in a traditional fall snack (edamame) consumed with beer. The beans, pod and all (sometimes still on the stalk), are boiled in salted water and drained; then snackers shell their own, as we do peanuts in the shell (see recipe, page 82). In Japan, the beans are sometimes shelled and added raw to rice before it is cooked (see recipe, page 66).
Adzuki are widely used in Asia for soups, but especially in desserts, and in a sweet paste for dumplings. The young pods are eaten like snow peas.
Mung bean sprouts are one of the most widely used vegetables in stir-fries in general, in various classic Asian stir-fries with pork, and in sweet-and-sour soup.
BEANS, FAVA
(BROAD BEANS)
Vicia faba
Chinese: tsaam dou; Hindi: bakla; Japanese: sora mame
BEANS, YARD-LONG (ASPARAGUS BEAN; CHINESE PEA)
Vigna unguiculata spp. Sesquipedalis
Cantonese: cheung kong tau; Mandarin: chang dou; Japanese: sasage
PIGEON PEAS (RED GRAM, DAHL)
Cajanus cajan
Fava bean flowers (above), fava bean pods (below)
Favas are cool-season beans, good for cool climates. On the other hand, yard-long beans and pigeon peas are best grown in warm climates.
Yard-long beans produce very long, thin pods. These vining plants, which are related to black-eyed peas, grow to 10 feet. The young pods, seeds, and leaves are edible. The pod and foliage flavor is mild and sweet. There are three types of yard-long beans: the dark, thin pods with black seeds; the larger, light green one with spongy pods and red seeds; and a white-seeded type.
Pigeon peas are shrubby perennials from Asia and Africa that are popular in east Indian cuisine. The quick-growing plants can be 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide.
How to grow: In areas where winters don’t dip below the teens, plant fava beans in the fall. They need about 90 days of cool weather and tolerate repeated frosts. In cold-winter areas, plant favas when you plant peas. To plant, prepare the soil well and plant seeds
