Sprouts, bean

Sweet and juicy shoots that add a bit of crunch to your meal.

Alternative Name

Golden gram, green gram, moong bean, mung bean

Scientific Name

Vigna radiata

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The most common bean sprouts are sprouted from mung bean seeds. The long shoots are translucent to white in colour, with a royal green coat. They have a crunchy texture and sweet taste.

Information for farmers+

Harvesting
Mung bean sprouts are normally harvested after 3–8 days when length is 1.3–7.6cm. Fresh mung bean sprouts have crisp white hypocotyls and yellow or green cotyledons. Symptoms of deterioration include darkening of the root and cotyledons, development of dark streaks on the hypocotyl, and eventual development of sliminess, decay, and a musty odour.

Postharvest storage temperature
Sprouts should be cooled immediately and held at 0°C. Vacuum-cooling, hydro-cooling and forced-air cooling are common methods.

Controlled atmosphere storage
The shelf life of mung bean sprouts can be increased by storage under modified atmosphere in which O2 is reduced and CO2 is increased. Darkening of sprouts is reduced and development of sliminess is delayed.

Ethylene sensitivity
Sprouts produce little ethylene.

Humidity storage
Sprouts should be stored at 95–100% relative humidity.

Disease & infection
Development of decay, sliminess and musty odours are symptoms of deterioration.

Preparation & Storage+
Keep in vegetable drawer of fridge.
A good source A good source –  1 serve provides 25% of RDI or 4g of fibre A source A source –  1 serve provides 10% of RDI or 2g of fibre
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Veggy tip

Bean sprouts are a great addition to many dishes, including wraps, sandwiches, salads, rice paper rolls or sushi. If cooking, add at the very end to retain texture and nutrients.