Chickpeas/garbanzos

[silverleaf]

So I got a packet of dried chickpeas from my local Asian grocery store. They are brown in colour and just labelled "Kala Chana" (black chickpea I guess) and I'm attempting to germinate a handful of them wrapped in kitchen paper in a jar, just to see what happens.

Anyone grown chickpeas? Do you think they'll grow here in the UK or am I wasting my time?

It's just an experiment really, I'm just curious. I won't really mind if they don't produce anything to be honest, but it would be nice if they did!

[ottawagardener]

I've grown them here in Ottawa which has a shorter season than you but possibly more sun units (lived in the UK for 5 years under the tupperware we used to say - but heck I got to ride my bike all year!!). Anyhow, the ones I had luck with were from Salt Spring Seeds which is is rainy BC though I think the gulf islands are a bit drier than parts of the rain forest out there. They were called Winnifred's Garbanzos. They look very similar to lentil plants if you have seen those and I guess in areas where growing them is marginal, you can space them closer together than what is suggested as you won't get full potential out of them. Shelling them is a bit of a pain but I have child labour (they love shelling legumes for some reason but I'm not questioning just thanking them).

[castanea]

So true about shelling beans. I loved to do it as a child but don't care for it now.

[silverleaf]

I love shelling legumes as well, and I'm 29! What does that say about me?

Thanks for the info! 4 out of the 5 chickpeas I put in kitchen paper have germinated already after 2 days. I'll start some off in modules because if I sow them outside the mice will probably eat them.

How exciting, I'd have never though when I started growing veggies last year that it could be so exciting!

[Owen]

I've always had great succes with chickpeas (originally sourced from Salt Spring Seeds) both here in Nova Scotia and in our old garden on rainy Vancouver Island. They always mature around the same time as our late maturing dry beans, so I'd imagine they should grow great in the UK! Hannan is a great bi-coloured black and brown variety from Morocco that always does well for me (I don't know if Salt Spring carries it currently).

[ottawagardener]

I don't remember seeing Hannan in their catalogue. Mabye they don't carry it anymore. So now with all that encouragement, I look forward to hearing about your success.

[atash]

I found this old thread while looking exhaustively in the Legumes section.

Garbanzo beans aka chickpeas are easier to grow than their reputation suggests. I had no trouble growing Kabuli Black in Seattle.

They grow cooler than Phaseolus-type beans--we plant them in the spring here just a little after peas. They are short, bushy plants that do not need trellising. They grow fast and are quick to bear. Black Kabuli is a good one to try in cool climates, such as the UK, because its dark seeds are supposed to be more resistant to cold soil.

It's surprising that they are not more grown. You can do more things with them than most people realize. Not just add them to salads and make hummous out of them, but you can also grind them into a flour, mix it with brown rice flour, and make all sorts of non-glutinous pastries out of it, that are protein-balanced to boot. I make cookies for my kids out of it, even though none of us are gluten-intolerant, because it's probably a tad more nutritious than pastries made from pastry wheat flour.

[mnjrutherford]

What kind of flavor do the cookies have Atash? I would love to have a nutty flavor in my baked goods and in my head, I think that is easier to attain with cookies than with a risen, loaf type bread that is dependent on well developed gluten strands for structure. But what about flat breads like flour tortillas that have no leavening? Or maybe a pizzaish sort of bread that is very wet?

I'm growing black kabouli for the first time and as far as I know (I'm ignorant this season) they are doing well. So, if all goes well this year, next year I'll have them available for more extensive use.

[atash]

Well, vanilla and chocolate chip.

Brown rice flour is made from medium-grain rice, which has a pretty neutral, mellow flavor. The garbanzos also have a mild flavor. The resulting pastry does not taste odd at all. However, I have a feeling that if using black garbanzos the color might be a tad odd. Shouldn't affect the flavor but might impact the perception of the flavor!

One word of warning is that rice is hard to grind down fine. Many brown rice flours end up with a slightly "sandy" texture. Try ultra-fine grind if you can find.

One more warning: with no binders, the cookies have a texture like their wheat counterparts EXCEPT that if you dunk them in milk, they don't hold together (no gluten!), but instead fall apart. Otherwise, though, you can't really tell that they are made using special flour.

mutuallyassuredsurvival.com/smforums/index.php/topic,4297.0.html

I really like the black garbanzos for their performance, but I am wondering what...grey?...hummous will look like.

[ottawagardener]

I've noticed that sandy texture in rice flour but assumed that was just the way it was. I've been looking into more recipes that use protein rich flours like this as my youngest is celiac.

[cortona]

here were i live garbanzos are the first legume we plant in febbr/march(i suspect that is possible to plant it in autumn...i have to try it!
and it grow using the winter rain so is realy a watersaving crop here!
i have tryed a strain/variety of garbanzos that come from pakistan( a friend give me it from a travel talking about a popping kikpeas but..it dont pop but is good in a lot of other way)
we use garbanzo's flour for different recipes :http://www.kucinare.it/user/ricetta.aspx?idricetta=831 this is a traditional one!

[atash]

Cortona, thanks. There are breeders in Iran working on winter-hardy chickpeas so perhaps it could be made feasible to plant chickpeas in the autumn in maritime climates like mine. I too have a winter-rainfall climate, but it is colder than yours.

Ottawagardener, have a look at the book discussed in the link, that was written by the proprietress of "Flying Apron" bakery in Fremont. It has extensive recipes all using the same combination of brown rice flour and garbanzo flour. Because it uses a mixture of cereal flour and a bean flour, the amino acid patterns complement each other synergistically. You get more useable protein than from either one alone. I was temporarily rendered gluten-intolerant as a side-effect of antibiotics and prescription antacids I took for a hiatal hernia that almost killed me. Aside: this is why certain GI tract problems are rampant in North America: the doctors are CAUSING THEM by their extremely bad prescriptions. In my case it took me years to fix the problem using diet and special probiotics. Anyway, nobody is gluten intolerant here anymore but I bought the book and make some of the recipes in it for my kids, because they are fairly wholesome fare as sweet-treats go.

Both flours are fairly obtainable, or you can grind your own, so it's not a hassle. The only problem ingredient is coconut fat and/or palm fat for making pie crusts. It's still obtainable but has soared in price in recent years, perhaps due to demand for a saturated fat that does not contain trans-fats. Anyway that's only for pie crusts; everything else contains inexpensive (especially in Canada!!) Canola oil.

To avoid the sandy texture of products made from brown rice flour, use a superfine grind such as this one:

Authentic Foods Brown Rice Flour Superfine

Naturally, they're out at the moment. Note the 5 star buyer rating; I think the lack of sandy texture is the big draw.

[grunt]

If you can't find or grind a truly fine rice flour, sift what you do get through one of those frying pan spatter screens, and just use what will go through the mesh. I have a Grainmaster Whisper Mill, and made up this sifter by hot gluing the rim of a plastic bowl to a spatter screen.
gives you a nice fine whole wheat flour to work with. Something that might make it easier to get a fine grain when you grind your own, is to dry the grain (rice, corn, wheat, what ever) before you grind. I used to do this routinely when I was still on the lightsations. If you've ever tried making bread with rice flour added to the mix, you may have noticed it doesn't rise as well. Actually, if you have the patience to give it the extra raise time, it goes nuts in the process. I disremember just how much extra time it takes, but overnight would probably do it. Gives you super light dough.

[extremegardener]

Rice flour for baking -
I do all my own milling (had a whole grains bakery for 10 years). I prefer using sweet rice for flour, the grains are a little softer and easier to get a finer grind than the regular long, short and medium brown rices. I think the sweet rice might also be called, or used for, "sticky" rice. Not always easy to find, you might have to ask for it...

[mnjrutherford]

What about the gluten content of sweet rice?

I really want to get a grain mill more than ever now so that I can try incorporating rice in my bread. You know, I do belive I have some mochi flour in the house. Think I could use it in a sourdough bread? I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for all the input!