Red beans are not a dessert

At least you'd think that red beans are not for dessert. But in China, they are always sweet. It's strange to serve refried beans (or regular pinto beans) to students. I have to remind myself to tell the students the beans will be salty. Just like China should always remind me that red beans are sweet!

We've seen red beans as desserts often. They are served in mooncakes, fried sesame seed balls, and in steamed glutenous desserts. I once was super excited to buy a cinnamon roll only to be extremely disappointed to find it was actually red beans in sweet bread. Check out M'Lynn in the photo. That's a green tea iced drink topped with sweet red beans!

It's true, red beans are everywhere. They're in every dessert. Even in a limited time McDonald's McFlurry, Oreo and red beans.