Imuraya’s Commitment to Azuki

Imuraya carefully selects high-quality Azuki, including Hokkaido Azuki. Imuraya is committed to every process, from selection to cooking.

When selecting Azuki beans, we examine all beans for broken beans or foreign materials, and then carefully check each bean’s size, shape, and color by using six different detectors. In doing so, we strive to produce products that always maintain the same quality.

How to cook Azuki: There are many kinds of Azuki, differing in colors, shapes, and heating methods. We select the best Azuki type and the optimized cooking method depending on the product. Typically, when cooking Azuki the cooking water needs to be disposed of to prevent bitterness and a harsh aftertaste. But we discovered that this Azuki water contains various nutrients. Therefore, Imuraya developed an Azuki boiling process by which Azuki nutrients are extracted from the Azuki water that is typically disposed of.

Globalization of Azuki

Through Azuki, Imuraya introduces part of Japanese food culture to the world. With bases located in Beijing and Dalian in China and Irvine, California, in the United States, we continue to enhance our ability to develop attractive products and technical capacity we have accumulated, with a slogan of “Make Azuki Internationally Known!”

Azuki-related Anniversaries

July 1st: Imuraya’s Azuki Bar Day

July 1st was established as Imuraya’s Azuki Bar Day, based on the idea of eating an Azuki bar with rich Azuki flavor to overcome the hot season (certified by the Japan Anniversary Association on July 31, 2007).

The 1st day of the month: The 1st day of every month is Azuki Day

There is a Japanese custom of eating Azuki on the 1st day of a lunar month and the 15th day of the full moon (according to the Chinese calendar). Imuraya Group applied for establishing the 1st day as Azuki Day, stemming from the desire to eat Azuki with rich nutrients, as an ancient custom and wisdom. In 2007, our application was successfully registered.

Since long ago, Japanese people have had the custom of eating Azuki rice on the 1st day and the 15th day of the old calendar.
In early times, people would cook Sekihan rice when celebrating the new moon on the 1st day and the full moon on the 15th day. Imuraya Group, handling many Azuki products, established the 1st day of the month as Azuki Day, having the desire for people to be healthy by eating nutrient-rich Azuki. Our application was certified by the Japan Anniversary Association.