Mung or Green gram is a small ¼-inch, round, olive-green bean that is mustard or off-white coloured inside. The beans have a sweet flavour, soft texture and are easy to digest. Green gram is available in many forms including whole, split, de-husked (yellow) and ground. Split Moong beans or green Moong Dal is Green gram that has been split but not skinned. Since the husk is not removed completely, the green colour is retained. The splitting is done in a mill.

Green Mung is a traditional ingredient in Indian cooking, often used in curries. Like other legumes, split green gram is low in fat and high in protein and fibre, but it has the added advantage of cooking quickly. Due to its mild, earthy flavour, green Mung  is best cooked with assertive flavourings.

Mung beans are classified into grades for marketing purposes:

• Sprouting
• Number 1 processing
• Processing
• Manufacturing

Less than 5% of the total mung bean crop goes into the sprouting market. Processing grade is a broad classification for beans. Prices can vary  at any time of the year for beans within this broad processing grade classification depending on appearance and quality, i.e. whether good or poor quality processing grade. This is the reason why many choose to market their goods on a sample basis rather than on quality grades