Adzuki beans are small, sweet red beans, though they can also be colored grey, white or brown. They are quite popular in Asian cuisine. You will either see them spelled azuki or adzuki and typically the Chinese refer to them as hongdou. The name for adzuki beans comes from Japan, though the Japanese may call adzuki beans shozu.

These prized adzuki beans were probably first cultivated in the Himalayas and are annuals, which means they need to be planted yearly. They grow on vines and the beans are quite small, about .20 inches (5.08 mm) in length. They are especially enjoyed for their sweetness and are mostly used to make a variety of desserts, sweet drinks and sweet soup.

When adzuki beans are used in confections, they are commonly boiled with sugar and mashed into a paste. You can find Chinese dishes like moon cakes, and zongzi with adzuki beans in red bean paste form. Moon cakes are particularly popular. These are pastries that are filled with various sweet things, adzuki beans being one of the preferred fillings. Amy Tan references one of her character’s extreme joy in eating moon cakes in her novel The Joy Luck Club during the annual Festival of the Moon.

Zongzi is another festival oriented food that makes good use of adzuki beans. These are sticky rice dumplings filled with red bean paste and are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. Another Chinese desert called tangyuan are boiled round cakes made of rice flour with a filled center of adzuki beans. You can see the Chinese aesthetic in these foods, whether simple or complex. Dumplings or pastries give way to a surprising and attractive sweet red center.

The Japanese have several desserts which use adzuki beans. The popular anmitsu is a jellied substance made from agar (seaweed extract) and served with red bean paste. To make things more decadent, the dish may be served with a scoop of ice cream and is called cream anmitsu. Taiyaki is a beautiful little cake in the shape of a fish, and may feature red bean paste, chocolate, or custard in its center. The Japanese additionally use adzuki beans in ice cream or simmer the beans in sugar to produce a popular dish called amanatto.

Both the Koreans and the Japanese enjoy Daifuko, quite similar to tangyuan. Only with Daifuko, the cakes may be rolled in powdered sugar or cornstarch and can be palm-sized. These are considered not only delicious, but are thought to bring luck to those who receive them.