“Kyushu No. 171”
TOKYO, April 7 — Japanese agricultural researchers for the first time have developed a new variety of red beans, an ingredient extremely common in Japanese cuisine.
Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, a southern unit of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), named the new variety as “Kyushu No. 171”.
There had only been native varieties of red beans in Japan, and crops had never been developed breeding.
The new variety allows making soya processed foods, such as tofu, with pink-color like sakura flowers.
The researchers expect to plant the crops in Kumamoto prefecture this year.