These wrinkly, round seeds, reminiscent of hazelnuts are an extremely beneficial food source. They are all packed full of nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. They are high in protein which makes them a sufficient meat replacement for vegans and vegetarians.
“Cicer Artietinum” has a different name in every culture: Chickpeas, Ceci in Italian, Gram in India, Chana in Hebrew, and Garbanzo in Spanish. They also come in a variety of different types and colors, not just the common beige, but it can also be black, green, red, and brown.
Chickpeas are cultivated in Turkey more than 10.000 years ago, eaten for as long as anyone can remember and centuries before that. They were being cultivated in India 4000 years ago and appeared in Buddhist writings of 400 B.C.
PULSES
“Pulse”: Can be a throb of a heartbeat or a type of food that goes straight to your heart. Chickpea is a type of “Pulse” as it can support heart health, the high content of fiber helps decrease the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels in the blood.
There are two general varieties of chickpea; Desi: wild, small, dark, have a tough outer seed coat, Kabuli: large, cream-colored, with a thin seed covering.
A cup of chickpeas may benefit people with diabetes, and also the nutrients in it can contribute to healthy bone structure and strength.
Believe it or not! chickpea is diet-friendly, they can assist you in your weight loss journey as the amount of fiber in them will make you feel fuller for longer hours.
Coffee substitute
Ground chickpeas have been used as a coffee since the 18th century, until this day, they are commonly used as a caffeine-free alternative.
Chickpeas are super versatile, there’s a whole bunch of chickpeas recipes out there. Over the years chickpeas have found their way to every lunch/dinner table in many forms and tastes, Form tossing it with vegetables and other legumes to make a salad, to blending it with olive oil, garlic, and tahini to make a dip or a spread.
In Sudan chickpeas locally called ‘kabkabi’, are mashed and mixed with other spices to make “falafel” our famous dish, the mixture is then separated into small balls which will be fried until there is crisp on the outside. Chickpeas are an important cereal crop of high nutritional value and always available at a reasonable market price. They were introduced on a productive scale as cash crops at the Jazira scheme in the 1990s, ever since chickpeas cultivation area kept increasing gradually year after year. This high increase in production volume has significantly helped Sudan export and join the international market.