Chickpea

Related Topics:
Chickpeas

The chickpea, chick pea, garbanzo bean, ceci bean, bengal gram, chana or channa (Cicer arietinum) is an edible legume (British " pulse") of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae.

The plant is 20 to 50 cm high and has small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem. One seedpod contains two or three peas. The flowers are white- or reddish-blue. Chickpeas need a subtropical or tropical climate and more than 400 mm annual rain. They can be grown in a temperate climate, but yields will be much lower.

Desi vs. kabuli chickpeas

There are two types of chickpea:

Desi - "with small, dark seeds and a rough coat (prevailing in the Indian subcontinent, Ethiopia, Mexico, Iran)"
Kabuli- "with light-coloured, larger seeds and a smoother coat (mainly grown in S Europe, N Africa, Afghanistan, introduced to India only in the 18th cent., Chile)."//mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/Mansfeld/Taxonomy/datenvoll.afp?module=mf&source=botnam&taxid=30808&akzanz=0&rehm=0

The Desi form is also known as Bengal gram or chana. The Kabuli form is the kind grown e.g. in the Mediterranean today. The desi-type closely resembles those seeds found on archaeological sites and the wild ancestor, so it is probably the earlier form. Desi-type chickpeas are said to have a very low glycemic index ^* making it good for many people with blood sugar problems.

Cultivation and uses

The chickpea is grown in the Mediterranean, western Asia and India. The wild ancestor of domesticated chickpeas is Cicer reticulatum. As this only grows in southeast Turkey, this is the most likely locus of domestication.

Mature chickpeas can be eaten in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as besan, and used in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata, cooked and ground into a paste called hummus, or roasted, spiced and eaten as a snack (e.g. leblebi). In India, where they are referred to as "chana," chickpeas provide a major source of protein in a predominantly vegetarian culture. Chickpea flour is also used to make "Burmese tofu," a food originating with the Shan people of Burma. Unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack in many parts of India, and the plants are eaten there as a green vegetable in salads.

History of cultivation

Domesticated chickpeas are first known from the aceramic levels of Jericho (PPNB) and Cayönü in Turkey and the pottery Neolithic in Hacilar, Turkey. They are found in the late Neolithic in Thessaly, at Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini at ca. 3500 BCE. In the southern French cave of L'Abeurador Dept., Aude, wild chickpeas have been found in Mesolithic layers, dated by radiocarbon dating to 6790±90 BCE.

By the Bronze Age, they were known in Italy and Greece. In classical Greece, they were called erébinthos, eaten both as a staple and as a dessert, and consumed raw when young. The Romans knew of several varieties, for example venus, ram and punic chickpeas. They were cooked into a broth and roasted as a snack. The Roman gourmet Apicius gives several recipes for chickpeas. Carbonised chickpeas have been found at the Roman legionary fort at Neuss (Novaesium), Germany in layers of the 1st century CE, along with rice.

Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis (ca. 800 CE) as cicer italicum, to be grown in each imperial demesne. Albertus Magnus mentions three varieties: red, white, and black. According to Culpeper, "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing. Placed under the dominion of Venus, they offered a number of medical uses, including increasing sperm and milk, provoking menstruation and urine, and helping to treat kidney stones. Wild cicers were thought to be especially potent.

Chickpeas were grown in some areas of Germany for use as a coffee substitute in the First World War.

Etymology

The name "chickpea" derives eventually from the Latin name cicer through the French chiche. The name Cicero is derived from this plant. "Garbanzo" is from the Spanish language, an alteration (perhaps influenced by Old Spanish garroba or algarroba) of the Old Spanish arvanço, perhaps from Greek erebinthos.^*

Nutrition

Among other things, they are a good source of zinc for human body.^*

Trivia

It has been suggested (among other explanations) that the chickenpox disease gets its name from chick peas, which resembled the chickenpox blisters that appeared on the skin.