A round bamboo tray holds separate heaps of soybeans, mung beans, red beans, broad beans and peas, a wooden scoop lifts some soybeans, and beside it a bean vine bears white flowers and pods, a few of them split open to show the beans.
Beans and pulses
Introduction
Soybeans and the other pulses: mung, adzuki and broad beans.
Beans and pulses cover the soybean as a crop and ingredient, and other pulses such as mung beans, adzuki beans, broad beans and peas. The soybean is native to China, was called shu in ancient texts, has been cultivated for about five thousand years, and is the raw material of tofu, soy milk and bean pastes and sauces. A line in the Shijing says that there are beans in the open fields and the common people gather them. Tofu and soy milk have classes of their own, and fermented bean products belong to Fermented Curd and Douchi and to Sauces and Pastes.