Mung beans are a traditional health food for Chinese people in the summer, and it is well-known that they can clear heat, detoxify, prevent heatstroke, and lower blood pressure.
However, many people do not know that alkali should not be added when cooking mung bean soup. This is because mung beans are rich in B vitamins, which are an important component of their heat-relieving properties, helping to replenish nutrient losses from sweating. Alkali, however, can severely destroy many B vitamins. At the same time, the flavonoid antioxidant components in mung beans will also be lost and their structure will change, turning the color yellow, when alkali is added. Therefore, it is best not to add alkali when cooking mung bean porridge. If you want the porridge to be thicker, you can consider adding a small amount of rolled oats or glutinous rice to "thicken" it.
The flavonoids in the mung bean skin can form darker-colored complexes when they react with metal ions. For example, adding honey to mung bean soup produces a dark color, precisely for this reason. Although this reaction does not produce any toxic substances, it can interfere with the antioxidant effects of the mung beans and also hinder the absorption of metal ions. Therefore, an iron pot is the least suitable for cooking mung bean soup, while a clay pot is the most ideal.