The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Fabaceae, subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high in

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

. It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes, and 9500-year-old remains have been found in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. The chickpea is a key ingredient in

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

and

Middle Eastern cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Cypriot, Egyptian, Georgian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Kurdish, Lebanese, Palestinian and Turkish cuisines. Common ingredients include olives ...

s, used in

hummus Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made f ...

, and, when ground into flour,

falafel Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served in ...

. It also is important in

Indian cuisine Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, herb ...

, used in salads, soups and stews, and curry, in

chana masala Chana masala (, literally 'mix-spiced small-chickpeas'), also known as channay, chole masala, chhole masala, chole or chholay (plural), is a dish originating from the Indian subcontinent. The main ingredient is a variety of chickpea called ''c ...

, and in other meal products like channa. In 2019,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

was responsible for 70% of global chickpea production.

Etymology

The name "chickpea," earlier "chiche pease," is modelled on

Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from t ...

', where ''chiche'' comes from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

'. "Chich" was used by itself in English from the 14th to the 18th centuries.''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'', 3rd edition, December 201
''s.v.''
/ref> The word ', from an alteration of Old Spanish ', came first to English as "garvance" in the 17th century, being gradually anglicized to " calavance", though that came to refer to a variety of other beans, including the hyacinth bean. The current form ''garbanzo'' comes directly from modern Spanish.

History

Cicer reticulatum ''Cicer reticulatum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to southeastern Turkey. It is the wild ancestor of ''Cicer arietinum'', the chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of ...

'' is the wild progenitor of chickpeas and currently only grows in southeast Turkey, where they are believed to have been domesticated, which can be dated to around 7000 BC. Domesticated chickpeas have been found at

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during ...

sites in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and the

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

, namely at Çayönü, Hacilar, and Tell es-Sultan (Jericho). Chickpeas then spread to the Mediterranean region around 6000 BC and India around 3000 BC. In southern France,

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

layers in a cave at L'Abeurador,

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.carbon-dated to 6790±90 BC. They were found in the late Neolithic (about 3500 BC) sites at

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

Kastanas Kastanas ( el, Καστανάς, ) is a village of the Chalkidona municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality of Koufalia. The 2011 census recorded 630 inhabitants in the village. Kastanas is a part of the ...

, Lerna and Dimini,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. Chickpeas are mentioned in

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

's ' (about 800 AD) as ', as grown in each imperial demesne.

Albertus Magnus Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his li ...

mentions red, white, and black varieties. 17th century botanist

Nicholas Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer.Patrick Curry: "Culpeper, Nicholas (1616–1654)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) His bo ...

noted "chick-pease or cicers" are less " windy" than peas and more nourishing. Ancient people also associated chickpeas with

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

because they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing semen and milk production, inducing menstruation and urination, and helping to treat

kidney stone Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine ...

s. "White cicers" were thought to be especially strong and helpful. In 1793, ground-roasted chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a substitute for

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

in Europe. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, they were grown for this use in some areas of Germany. They are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee.

Genome sequencing

Sequencing of the chickpea genome has been completed for 90 chickpea genotypes, including several wild species. A collaboration of 20 research organizations, led by the

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several re ...

(

ICRISAT The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several re ...

), sequenced CDC Frontier, a ''kabuli'' chickpea variety, and identified more than 28,000 genes and several million genetic markers.

Description

The plant grows to 20–50 cm (8–20 in) high and has small, feathery leaves on either side of the stem. Chickpeas are a type of pulse, with one seedpod containing two or three peas. It has white flowers with blue, violet, or pink veins. Dozens of varieties of chickpea are cultivated throughout the world. In general, American and Iranian chickpeas are sweeter than Indian chickpeas. Kermanshah chickpeas in sizes 8 and 9 are considered among the world's highest quality.

Regional cultivation

Desi chana

''Desi chana'' as it is known in north India or as ''Boot'' in Eastern India (

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, parts of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

), has small, darker seeds and a rough coat. They are grown mostly in

and other parts of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

, as well as in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. ''Desi'' means "country" or "native" in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

; its other names include ''kala chana'' ("black chickpea" in Hindi) or ''chholaa boot'' or ''Boot'' in

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

. Desi chana can be black, green or speckled. This variety is hulled and split to make ''

chana dal In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of ...

'', '' Kurukshetra Prasadam'' (channa laddu),.Chana laddoo to be ‘Kurukshetra prasadam’, The Tribune, 1 March 2020. ''Bootor Daali
''.

White chickpea/garbanzo/kabuli chana

Garbanzo beans or 'kabuli' chana are lighter-coloured, larger, and with a smoother coat and are mainly grown in the Mediterranean, Southern Europe, Northern Africa, South America, and the Indian subcontinent. ''Kabuli chana'' means "from Kabul" in Hindi. This variety was thought to come from Kabul,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

, when it was introduced to India in the 18th century.

Ceci neri

An uncommon black chickpea, ''ceci neri'', is grown only in Apulia and Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is around the same size as garbanzo beans, larger and darker than the 'desi' variety.

Production

In 2020, world production of chickpeas was 15 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s, led by India with 73% of the global total, and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

as secondary producers (table).

Uses

Culinary

Chickpeas are usually rapidly boiled for 10 minutes and then simmered for longer. Dried chickpeas need a long cooking time (1–2 hours) but will easily fall apart when cooked longer. If soaked for 12–24 hours before use, cooking time can be shortened by around 30 minutes. Chickpeas can also be pressure cooked or '' sous vide'' cooked at . Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, ground into

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

, ground and shaped in balls and fried as ''

'', made into a batter and baked to make ''farinata'' or ''socca'', or fried to make '' panelle''. Chickpea flour is known as ''

gram flour Gram flour or kadala maavu is a pulse flour made from a variety of ground chickpea called Bengal gram or ''kaala chana''. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, including in Indian, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Nepali ...

'' or ''besan'' in South Asia and is used frequently in South Asian cuisine. In

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, chickpeas are one of the main ingredients in ''rancho'', eaten with pasta, meat, or rice. They are used in other hot dishes with '' bacalhau'' and in soups, meat stews, salads mixed with tuna and vegetables, olive oil, vinegar, hot pepper and salt. In Spain, they are used cold in '' tapas'' and salads, as well as in '' cocido madrileño''.

Hummus Hummus (, ; ar, حُمُّص, 'chickpeas'; full Arabic name: ''ḥummuṣ bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna'' ar, حمص بالطحينة, 'chickpeas with tahini'), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made f ...

is the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

word for chickpeas, which are often cooked and ground into a paste and mixed with

tahini Tahini () or tahina (, ) is a Middle Eastern condiment made from toasted ground hulled sesame. It is served by itself (as a dip) or as a major ingredient in hummus, baba ghanoush, and halva. Tahini is used in the cuisines of the Levant ...

(sesame seed paste), the blend called ''ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna''. Chickpeas are roasted, spiced, and eaten as a snack, such as '' leblebi''. By the end of the 20th century, hummus had become commonplace in American cuisine. By 2010, 5% of Americans consumed hummus regularly, and it was present at some point in 17% of American households. Chickpeas and Bengal grams are used to make curries. They are one of the most popular vegetarian foods in the Indian subcontinent and in

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews afte ...

communities of many other countries, served with a variety of bread or steamed rice. Popular dishes in Indian cuisine are made with chickpea flour, such as '' mirchi bajji'' and ''mirapakaya bajji.'' In India, as well as in the

, unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack, and the leaves are eaten as a

leaf vegetable Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad ...

in salads. In India, desserts such as besan halwa and sweets such as mysore pak, besan barfi and laddu are made. Chickpea flour is used to make "

Burmese tofu Burmese tofu ( my, တိုဖူး, ; or my, တိုဟူး, ) is a food of Shan origin, made from water and flour ground from yellow split peas and the Burmese version of chickpea flour, also known as ''besan'' flour, in a fashion sim ...

," which was first known among the Shan people of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. In South Asian cuisine, chickpea flour ( besan) is used as a batter to coat vegetables before deep frying to make pakoras. The flour is also used as a batter to coat vegetables and meats before frying or fried alone, such as ''panelle'' (little bread), a chickpea fritter from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Chickpea flour is used to make the Mediterranean flatbread '' socca'' and is called ''panisse'' in Provence, southern France. It is made of cooked chickpea flour, poured into saucers, allowed to set, cut into strips, and fried in olive oil, often eaten during Lent. In Tuscany, chickpea flour (farina di ceci) is used to make an oven-baked pancake: the flour is mixed with water, oil and salt. Chickpea flour, known as kadlehittu in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, is used for making sweet dish Mysorepak. In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, chickpeas preserved in syrup are eaten as sweets and in desserts such as '' halo-halo''.

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

traditionally serve whole chickpeas, referred to as ''arbes'' (אַרבעס) in Yiddish, at the ''

Shalom Zachar A Shalom Zachar (also: ''Sholom Zochor'', ''Shulem Zucher'', he, שלום זכר; trans. ''Welcoming the male''; lit. ''Peace be upon the male''), is a gathering which takes place in Ashkenazi Jewish circles on the first Friday night after ...

'' celebration for baby boys. The chickpeas are boiled until soft and served hot with salt and lots of ground black pepper. '' Guasanas'' or ''garbanza'' is a Mexican chickpea street snack. The beans, while still green, are cooked in water and salt, kept in a steamer to maintain their humidity, and served in a plastic bag. A chickpea-derived liquid ('' aquafaba'') can be used as an egg white replacement to make meringue or ice cream, with the residual

pomace Pomace ( ), or marc (; from French ''marc'' ), is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit. Grape pomace has traditionally been used to prod ...

used as flour. File:FOOD Doubles 2.jpg, Doubles, a street food in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

File:Potaje de garbanzos y collejas5.JPG, Manchego cuisine; chickpea and '' Silene vulgaris'' stew ''(potaje de garbanzos y collejas)'' File:Farinata di ceci 01.jpg, Farinata di ceci, a traditional Italian chickpea snack food File:Chakhchoukha9.JPG, Chakhchoukha in

Algerian cuisine The cuisine of Algeria is influenced by Algeria's interactions and exchanges with other cultures and nations over the centuries. It is characterized by a wealth derived from both land and sea products. Conquests or demographic movement towards ...

; freshly cooked ''marqa'' before mixing with ''rougag'' File:Choleindia.jpg, ''

Chana masala Chana masala (, literally 'mix-spiced small-chickpeas'), also known as channay, chole masala, chhole masala, chole or chholay (plural), is a dish originating from the Indian subcontinent. The main ingredient is a variety of chickpea called ''c ...

'', India File:Halua of Chickpeas.jpg, ''Halua'' chickpeas,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

File:Aesthetic Fried Gram.jpg, Fried chickpea

Animal feed

Chickpeas are an energy and protein source as animal feed. Raw chickpeas have a lower

trypsin Trypsin is an enzyme in the first section of the small intestine that starts the digestion of protein molecules by cutting these long chains of amino acids into smaller pieces. It is a serine protease from the PA clan superfamily, found in the d ...

and

chymotrypsin Chymotrypsin (, chymotrypsins A and B, alpha-chymar ophth, avazyme, chymar, chymotest, enzeon, quimar, quimotrase, alpha-chymar, alpha-chymotrypsin A, alpha-chymotrypsin) is a digestive enzyme component of pancreatic juice acting in the duod ...

inhibitor content than peas,

common bean ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, alo ...

s, and

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu ...

s. This leads to higher nutrition values and fewer digestive problems in non ruminants. Nonruminant diets can be completed with 200 g/kg of raw chickpeas to promote egg production and growth of birds and pigs. Higher amounts can be used when chickpeas are treated with heat. Experiments have shown that ruminants grow equally well and produce an equal amount and quality of milk when soybean or cereal meals are replaced with chickpeas. Pigs show the same performance, but growing pigs experience a negative effect of raw chickpea feed; extruded chickpeas can increase performance even in growing pigs. Only young broilers (starting period) showed worse performance in poultry diet experiments with untreated chickpeas. Fish performed equally well when extruded chickpeas replaced their soybean or cereal diet. Chickpea seeds have also been used in rabbit diets. Secondary components of legumes—such as lecithin, polyphenols,

oligosaccharides An oligosaccharide (/ˌɑlɪgoʊˈsækəˌɹaɪd/; from the Greek ὀλίγος ''olígos'', "a few", and σάκχαρ ''sácchar'', "sugar") is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically two to ten) of monosaccharides (simple sug ...

; and

amylase An amylase () is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of starch (Latin ') into sugars. Amylase is present in the saliva of humans and some other mammals, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Foods that contain large amount ...

protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the form ...

, trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors—can lead to lower nutrient availability, and thus to impaired growth and health of animals (especially in nonruminants). Ruminants generally have less trouble digesting legumes with secondary components since they can inactivate them in the rumen liquor. Their diets can be supplemented by 300 g/kg or more raw chickpea seeds. However, protein digestibility and energy availability can be improved through treatments such as germination, dehulling, and heat. Extrusion is a very good heat technique to destroy secondary legume components since the proteins are irreversibly denatured. Overprocessing may decrease the nutritional value; extrusion leads to losses in minerals and vitamins, while dry heating does not change the chemical composition.

Nutrition

Chickpeas are a nutrient-dense food, providing rich content (20% or higher of the

Daily Value The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of health ...

, DV) of

dietary fiber Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by th ...

, folate, and certain dietary minerals, such as

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

and

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...

in a 100-gram reference amount (see adjacent nutrition table). Thiamin, vitamin B₆,

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...

, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic t ...

contents are moderate, providing 10–16% of the DV. Compared to reference levels established by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

and

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

, proteins in cooked and germinated chickpeas are rich in essential

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...

s such as

lysine Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated &minu ...

, isoleucine,

tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromati ...

, and total aromatic amino acids. A reference serving of cooked chickpeas provides of food energy. Cooked chickpeas are 60% water, 27%

carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...

, 9%

and 3% fat (table). 75% of the fat content is unsaturated fatty acids for which

linoleic acid Linoleic acid (LA) is an organic compound with the formula COOH(CH2)7CH=CHCH2CH=CH(CH2)4CH3. Both alkene groups are ''cis''. It is a fatty acid sometimes denoted 18:2 (n-6) or 18:2 ''cis''-9,12. A linoleate is a salt or ester of this acid. L ...

comprises 43% of the total fat.

Effects of cooking

Cooking treatments do not lead to variance in total protein and carbohydrate content. Soaking and cooking of dry seeds possibly induces chemical modification of protein-fibre complexes, which leads to an increase in crude fibre content. Thus, cooking can increase protein quality by inactivating or destroying heat-labile antinutritional factors. Cooking also increases protein digestibility, essential amino acid index, and protein efficiency ratio. Although cooking lowers concentrations of amino acids such as tryptophan, lysine, total aromatic, and sulphur-containing amino acids, their contents are still higher than proposed by the FAO/WHO reference. Raffinose and sucrose and other reducing sugars diffuse from the chickpea into the cooking water and this reduces or completely removes these components from the chickpea. Cooking also significantly reduces fat and mineral content. The

B vitamins B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexis ...

riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and pyridoxine dissolve into cooking water at differing rates.

Germination

Germination of chickpeas improves protein digestibility, although at a lower level than cooking. Germination degrades proteins to simple peptides, improving crude protein, nonprotein nitrogen, and crude fibre content. Germination decreases lysine, tryptophan, sulphur and total aromatic amino acids, but most contents are still higher than proposed by the FAO/WHO reference pattern. Oligosaccharides, such as stachyose and raffinose, are reduced in higher amounts during germination than during cooking. Minerals and

are retained more effectively during germination than with cooking. Phytic acids are reduced significantly, but trypsin inhibitor, tannin, and saponin reduction is less effective than cooking.

Autoclaving, microwave cooking, boiling

All treatments of cooking improve protein digestibility. Essential amino acids are slightly increased by boiling and microwave cooking compared to autoclaving and germination. Overall, microwave cooking leads to a significantly lower loss of nutrients than autoclaving and boiling. Finally, all treatments improve protein digestibility, protein efficiency ratio, and essential amino acid index. Microwave cooking seems to be an effective method to prepare chickpeas because of its improved nutritional value and lower cooking time.

Leaves

In some parts of the world, young chickpea leaves are consumed as cooked green vegetables. Especially in malnourished populations, it can supplement important dietary nutrients because regions, where chickpeas are consumed have sometimes been found to have populations lacking micronutrients. Chickpea leaves have a significantly higher mineral content than either cabbage leaves or spinach leaves. Environmental factors and nutrient availability could influence mineral concentrations in natural settings. Consumption of chickpea leaves may contribute nutrients to the diet.

Research

The consumption of chickpeas is under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect chronic diseases.

Heat and nutrient cultivation

Agricultural yield for chickpeas is often based on genetic and phenotypic variability, which has recently been influenced by artificial selection. The uptake of macronutrients such as

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemis ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seve ...

is vital to the plant development of ''Cicer arietinum'', commonly known as the

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

chickpea. Heat cultivation and macronutrient coupling are two relatively unknown methods used to increase the yield and size of the chickpea. Recent research has indicated that a combination of heat treatment along with the two vital macronutrients, phosphorus and nitrogen, are the most critical components to increasing the overall yield of ''Cicer arietinum''. Perennial chickpeas are a fundamental source of nutrition in animal feed as they are high-energy and protein sources for livestock. Unlike other food crops, the perennial chickpea can change its nutritional content in response to heat cultivation. Treating the chickpea with a constant heat source increases its protein content almost threefold. Consequently, the impact of heat cultivation affects the protein content of the chickpea itself and the ecosystem it supports. Increasing the height and size of chickpea plants involves using macronutrient fertilization with varying doses of inorganic phosphorus and nitrogen. The level of phosphorus that a chickpea seed is exposed to during its lifecycle has a positive correlation relative to the height of the plant at full maturity. Increasing the levels of inorganic phosphorus at all doses incrementally increases the height of the chickpea plant. Thus, the seasonal changes in phosphorus soil content, as well as periods of drought that are known to be a native characteristic of the dry Middle-Eastern region where the chickpea is most commonly cultivated, have a strong effect on the growth of the plant itself. Plant yield is also affected by a combination of phosphorus nutrition and water supply, resulting in a 12% increase in crop yield. Nitrogen nutrition is another factor that affects the yield of ''Cicer arietinum'', although the application differs from other perennial crops regarding the levels administered on the plant. High doses of nitrogen inhibit the yield of the chickpea plant. Drought stress is a likely factor that inhibits nitrogen uptake and subsequent fixation in the roots of ''Cicer arietinum''. The perennial chickpea's growth depends on the balance between nitrogen fixation and assimilation, which is also characteristic of many other agricultural plant types. The influence of drought stress, sowing date, and mineral nitrogen supply affect the plant's yield and size, with trials showing that ''Cicer arietinum'' differed from other plant species in its capacity to assimilate mineral nitrogen supply from the soil during drought stress.Wery, J., Deschamps, M., & Leger-Cresson, N. (1988). Influence of some agroclimatic factors and agronomic practices on nitrogen nutrition of chickpea (''Cicer arietinum'' L.). Developments in Plants and Soil Sciences, 32: 287–301. Additional minerals and micronutrients make the absorption process of nitrogen and phosphorus more available. Inorganic

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

ions are generally attracted towards charged minerals such as

and

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

oxides. Additionally, growth and yield are also limited by the

micronutrients Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, huma ...

and boron deficiencies in the soil. Boron-rich soil increased chickpea yield and size, while soil fertilization with zinc seemed to have no apparent effect on the chickpea yield.

Pathogens

Pathogens in chickpeas are the main cause of yield loss (up to 90%). One example is the fungus ''Fusarium oxysporum'' f.sp. ''ciceris'', present in most of the major pulse crop-growing areas and causing regular yield damages between 10 and 15%. Many plant hosts produce heat shock protein 70s including ''C. arietinum''. In response to ''F. o. ciceris'' Gupta ''et al.'', 2017 finds ''C. arietinum'' produces an

orthologue Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a s ...

of AtHSP70-1, an ''

Arabidopsis ''Arabidopsis'' (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress (''Arabidopsis thaliana''), one of the model org ...

'' HSP70. From 1978 until 1995, the worldwide number of pathogens increased from 49 to 172, of which 35 were recorded in India. These pathogens originate from groups of bacteria, fungi, viruses, mycoplasma and nematodes and show a high genotypic variation. The most widely distributed pathogens are '' Ascochyta rabiei'' (35 countries), ''Fusarium oxysporum'' f.sp. ''ciceris'' (32 countries) ''

Uromyces ciceris-arietini ''Uromyces ciceris-arietini'' is a plant pathogen infecting chickpea. References External links Index FungorumUSDA ARS Fungal Database Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Pulse crop diseases ciceris-arietini Fungi described in 1863 ...

'' (25 countries), bean leafroll virus (23 countries), and '' Macrophomina phaseolina'' (21 countries). ''Ascochyta'' disease emergence is favoured by wet weather; spores are carried to new plants by wind and water splash. The stagnation of yield improvement over the last decades is linked to the susceptibility to pathogens. Research for yield improvement, such as an attempt to increase yield from by breeding cold-resistant varieties, is always linked with pathogen-resistance breeding as pathogens such as ''Ascochyta rabiei'' and ''F. o.'' f.sp. ''ciceris'' flourish in conditions such as cold temperature. Research started selecting favourable genes for pathogen resistance and other traits through

marker-assisted selection Marker assisted selection or marker aided selection (MAS) is an indirect selection process where a Trait (biology), trait of interest is selected based on a Biological marker, marker (Morphology (biology), morphological, biochemical or DNA/RNA var ...

. This method is a promising sign for the future to achieve significant yield improvements.

Gallery

File:Cicers farm.jpg, Cicers farm File:India - Varanasi green peas - 2714.jpg, Lime green chickpeas File:Chickpea in black colour.jpg, Black chickpeas

References

External links

India Pulses and Grains Association
() {{Authority control Edible legumes Faboideae Founder crops Medicinal plants of Asia Plants described in 1753

Etymology

History

Genome sequencing

Description

Regional cultivation

Desi chana

White chickpea/garbanzo/kabuli chana

Ceci neri

Production

Uses

Culinary

Animal feed

Nutrition

Effects of cooking

Germination

Autoclaving, microwave cooking, boiling

Leaves

Research

Heat and nutrient cultivation

Pathogens

Gallery

See also

References

External links