Mung Bean

A legume, Vigna radiata, domesticated in South Asia, in the region of modern India, and cultivated for millennia as a major pulse crop across South and East Asia. Mung beans are eaten whole or split as dal, ground into flour, and are also widely germinated into bean sprouts, a use distinct from most other pulse crops, and their starch is processed into cellophane noodles in parts of East and Southeast Asia. The crop is valued agriculturally for its short growing season and its ability, as a legume, to fix nitrogen in the soil, and it is commonly grown in rotation with cereal crops across its range.