Mungo beans versus mung beans

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From: radioreceiver2003 [mailto:radioreceiver2003@...]

> > Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 2:04 PM

> >

> > Subject: [ ] Mungo Beans

> > Last September, I read in the Washington Post that mungo beans

are also a good source of Omega 3. The Washington Post article

> > explicitly indicated that only mungo beans and not the maddenly

> > similarly named mung beans contained Omega 3. However, only mung

> > beans seem to be available in Indian stores, and the shopkeepers

all insist that mungo beans are the same as mung beans.

> > Can anyone help me out on this?

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Mungo/mung beans:

Mung beans are small, green legumes that are very common beans to

sprout. They are fully green with the exception of a white line on

each bean.

They are very widely available at health food stores and

Indian/International Food stores. Most people interested in optimal

nutrition, improved diets, health food, etc., have seen them. Their

scientific name is vigna radiata.

In some Indian grocery stores they are called moong and also muung.

FWIW, the term legume comes from the latin " legere " which means " to

gather. " The " to gather " comes from the fact that legumes have

several seeds in a pod.

The mung bean also is frequently sold in Indian stores with the green

hull removed, and also split in half; in the later case it is called

Mung Dal/Mung Dahl, or Moong Dal. Whenever you see the term Dal or

Dahl, it means a legume has been split in half.

The mung bean has 2.38 total grams of fat in one cup of the raw

beans. A partial breakdown of the fat includes 0.795 grams of

polyunsaturated fat, 0.33 g monounsaturated, and 0.72 saturated fat.

The mungo bean looks just like the mung bean, except that it is

black. The scientific name of the mungo bean is vigna mungo. They

usually are not sold under the name of mungo beans, because far more

common names for this bean are:

Black urad

Black gram

Urid whole

Urad whole

Less common names are Udud and Ured.

As usual for Indian stores, they are often sold either with the black

hull removed, or split in half. When split they are called Urad dal

or Urid dal, or Kali dal.

The mungo bean, or black urad/urid, vigna mungo, has 3.39 grams of

total fat in one cup of the raw beans (vs. 2.38 g for the mung

beans), and 2.217 g of polyunsaturated fat (versus 0.795 g

polyunsaturated for mung beans).

Of course, omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids (but

not all poly's are omega-3), so somewhere in the 2.217 g polys for

mungo versus 0.795 polys for mung lies the omega-3 fatty acid content

difference.

Since you can't seem to find the mungo beans, I'll provide some

sources for you:

Kundan Foods, Inc. Carson, CA

http://www.kundanfoods.com

They sell them under the name of Urid Whole. The brand is `Rani

Brand Authentic Indian Products'.

Under the brand `Chirag', they are packaged by Dishaka Gourmet

Imports, Houston, TX 77031

www.dishaka.com

with the same name, Urid Whole.

I purchase them locally. Price: $3.00 for four pounds. They are

available locally at the Indian store and also at the International

Food Store.

Your local Indian/International food store should have no problem

ordering them for you. Your local health food store can order them

for you, as can any retail grocery store that is willing.

Now for the best part: mungo beans are fabulous for sprouting. They

sprout as easy or even easier than mung beans. The color of the bean

without the black hull (which separates from the bean during

sprouting) is creamy white. They sprout very quickly.

I sprout them for only two to three days and then cook them for two

to three minutes. The ones I buy have almost a 100% sprouting rate---

the sprouts are top notch, and one of my favorites.

Bob Bessen

Rjb112@...