Although medicinal dried bitter bean seeds are selling well in the market, they are not selling as well as fresh beans, according to bean sellers’ circle.
As this is the season to sell dried bitter bean seeds, they sell well, but in pre-Thingyan period, it was the season of fresh bitter beans, which sold better.
“Bitter beans sell well now. They are mainly delivered to Yangon. Now, the fresh beans’ season has ended and dried seeds’ season has begun. It is sold by the number of cans of condensed milk. Fresh beans’ season is from January to April. The rest of the year is dried seeds’ season. Many people buy it for its medicinal properties. We deliver to Toungoo and other townships. We also sell a lot to PyinOoLwin. In pre-Thingyan period, there was still a fresh beans’ market and so they sold better. In the season for dried seeds, it doesn’t sell as much as the fresh season,” said a bitter bean trader.
A piece of bitter beans costs K 100 and K 250 respectively at the wholesale and retail markets in PyinOoLwin and dried seeds sell for K 1500 to K 2000 per condensed mile can.
Bitter beans or stink beans are popular in Myanmar’s neighbouring countries such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and Singapore while India used to regularly import these beans from Myanmar every year. Recently, it has spread to the domestic market and there are now many consumers in Myanmar.
Being green, about the size of a lablab bean, and having a similar flavour and taste to djenko beans, bitter beans are a favourite djenko bean substitute for some people and are mainly eaten as fries, mixed salads to go with salty sauce and main dishes with pork, prawns, tomatoes, and fish sauce . These beans are rich in protein, good fats, sugar, fibre, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper and many vitamins.
Thit Taw/ZN
