Chickpeas seed Cicer arietinum

LATIN NAME: Cicer arietinum

COMMON NAME: Chickpea

The chickpea is the round, nutty legume of the old fields, and the small, white, pea-like flowers hide among the feathery leaves. The upright, bushy, annual plant carries the pinnate leaves of the many small leaflets and the small, white or pale-violet, pea-like flowers through the warm season, to be followed by the short, inflated pods of the round, cream to tan seeds with the pointed tip. The seeds have a very long record as the staple of the old world, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the warm field and the vegetable garden. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The chickpea is a historic subject of the plant science, and the round seeds keep showing up in the work on the old pulses. The breeding of the chickpeas for the yield and the protein has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the pulse genetics, the drought-tolerant legumes and the members of the pea family. The pinnate leaves and the upright, bushy habit have also made it a fine field plant, and the chickpea is a regular subject of the work on the old round pulses of the dry world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The chickpea is a fine, historic plant of the warm field and the vegetable garden. The round, cream to tan seeds have a very long record as the staple of the old world, cooked into the hummus and the curries, roasted into the crisp snacks and ground into the fine chickpea flour of the warm kitchens. The plant feeds the soil with the nitrogen and stands the dry, warm ground with the ease, and it is one of the fine choices for the warm field, the vegetable garden and the pulse plot. It has been written up in the culinary and the agricultural papers for the round seeds and the very long history, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

Pick the pods as they dry on the plant and shell the round seeds out of the short, inflated pods for the store.

To grow the chickpea from seed, sow the large, round seeds about a centimetre down in pots of moist, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a warm, bright spot and water gently, then set the young plants out after the last frosts. The seedlings push through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun, the warmth and the well-drained ground, the round seeds will come through the warm season.

Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as chickpea flour and besan and used frequently in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata.