Commonly known as chickpeas, garbanzo beans are great in salads, soups, curries, hummus, or as a snack.
Garbanzo beans are a type of bean or a “legume,” which is a dry fruit contained within a shed or a pod. The most common legumes are beans, peas, peanuts, and alfalfa.
They are commonly found in cans and are already cooked, but at Core Goods we sell them dry in our bulk bins. There are many reasons to purchase them dry:
- Dry beans from the bulk bins reduce waste. We get them from Frankferd Farms in large paper bags that we then add to a compost pile when empty, so if you use your own container, there is no packaging waste! Plus, they look beautiful if you store them in glass jars in your cupboard 🙂
- Dry beans are often less expensive than canned.
- Canned beans can sometimes have other ingredients added, like sodium and preservatives.
- Most cans are lined with BPA-containing resin, which could leak into the food. BPA is a synthetic compound found in many plastics (learn more).
- You can flavor dry beans as you cook them, with ingredients like broth and spices, making them taste much better.
The main disadvantage of choosing dry beans over canned is the amount of time it takes to cook them. This shouldn’t be a problem, though, if you try to plan ahead.
It is recommended to soak the beans in water in the fridge over night. Soaking your beans helps them cook faster and more evenly, and it can also make them easier to digest. It is also said that adding salt to the soaking water will make your beans cook even faster, because the salt helps break down their skins.
If you forget to soak your beans over night, you can give them a “quick soak” or don’t soak them at all–just cook them longer. You can cook them on the stove, or we often cook them in the Instant Pot. Find more information about soaking and cooking beans here.
As far as the nutritional value of garbanzo beans, they provide a good source of plant based protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are also known to help with digestion and support blood sugar control (learn more).
GARBANZO BEAN RECIPES:
Hummus from Scratch *May 13th is National Hummus Day!
Falafel
Roasted Chickpea Gyros
Coconut Chickpea Curry
Chickpea Stew
Smashed Avocado Chickpea Salad Sandwich
Chopped Thai Chickpea Salad with Curry Peanut Dressing
Greek Chickpea Salad
Chickpea Nuggets
Spicy Chickpea Veggie Burgers
These are just some recipe suggestions. There are thousands of recipes on the internet–just search “garbanzo bean recipes” or “chickpea recipes” on Pinterest or Google.