Vigna radiata subsp. radiata
Origin: Iran
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~40
Germination tested 11/2025: 64%
Life cycle: Annual
Also called "green gram" in English or "moog dal" in Bengali, mung beans were domesticated somewhere on the Indian subcontinent roughly 3,500 years ago. They have since spread around the world and become an important crop in various cuisines, eaten fresh, dried, split, ground into flour, and as sprouts. There's a huge diversity of mung beans out there — the USDA has 4,644 individual accessions in its collection! — with various types and colors. Green mung beans, like this one from Iran, are the most common. Yellow are often used in sweet desserts. And brown and black mung beans exist too. This is a very classic-looking mung bean and we've found it very easy to grow and harvest. The plants need no trellis, instead sprawling around on the ground, but also having upright flowering stems which simplify harvesting. This mung bean is great for growing sprouts or cooking.
Our seeds were grown by EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman at Reed's Organic Farm in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.
GROWING TIPS: Mung beans can be direct-sown after frost danger has passed. Space plants one foot apart. Plants may be started indoors earlier as well, for a head start, but after a few weeks they will get leggy. They generally sprout very quickly.
