Essential guide: chickpeas
Experiment with these handy legumes
The common chickpea is a store cupboard staple in kitchens across the world, with 12.1 million tonnes being produced in 2016 alone. Yet we have been cooking with chickpeas for thousands of years – 7,500 to be precise – and evidence suggests that humans have been cultivating them long before they could produce pottery.
Over time, chickpeas have proven themselves to be versatile legumes, as they can be added to curries, blended into houmous, and transformed into a pizza base, to name a few methods. In fact, during World War 1, German soldiers would grow chickpeas especially to use as a coffee replacement – some people still use them for this purpose today! The chickpea plants are incredibly clever and good for the environment too, as they have the ability to restore depleted soil. Their deep root system also helps to stabilise soil and prevent erosion, and as they’re a dry agriculture crop, they require very little agricultural water and can be grown without fertiliser.