Chickpea

Thechickpeaorchick pea(Cicer arietinum) is anannuallegumeof thefamilyFabaceae, subfamilyFaboideae,cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known asgramorBengal gram;chhola,chhana,chana, orchanna;garbanzoorgarbanzo bean; orEgyptian pea.It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes, the oldest archaeological evidence of which was found inSyria.
Chickpeas are high inprotein. The chickpea is a key ingredient inMediterraneanandMiddle Eastern cuisines, used inhummus, and, when soaked and coarsely ground with herbs and spices then made into patties and fried,falafel. As an important part ofIndian cuisine, it is used in salads, soups and stews, and curry, inchana masala, and in other food products that contain channa (chickpeas). In 2022, India accounted for 75% of global chickpea production.
Chickpeas have been cultivated for at least ten thousand years.Cultivation spread from theFertile Crescenteastward towardSouth Asiaand into Europe through theBalkans.Historical linguisticshave found ancestral words relating to chickpeas in the prehistoricProto-Indo-European language familythat evolved into theIndo-European languages.TheProto-Indo-European roots*kek-and*k'ik'-that denoted both'pea'and'oat'appeared in thePontic–Caspian steppeof Eastern Europe between 4,500 and 2,500 BCE.As speakers of the language became isolated from each other through theIndo-European migrations, the regional dialects diverged due to contact with other languages and dialects, and transformed into the known ancient Indo-European languages.TheOld Prussianwordkekêrs, appearing between 1 and 100 CE, retained the'pea'meaning of the word, but in most cases, the word came to be used to denote chickpeas.InOld Macedonian, the wordκίκερροιappeared between 1000 and 400 BCE, and may have evolved from theProto-Hellenicword*κικριός.InAncient Rome, theLatinwordcicerfor chickpeas appeared around 700 BCE,and is probably derived from the  wordkickereused by thePelasgiansthat inhabited north Greece before Greek-speaking tribes took over.TheOld Armenianwordsiseŕnfor chickpeas appeared before 400 CE.Over time,linkagesbetween languages led to other descendant words, including theAlbanianwordqiqër, theSwedishwordkikärt, theSlovakwordcícer, theEstonianwordkikerhernes, theBasquewordtxitxirio, and theMaltesewordcicra.
The Latin wordcicerevolved into words for chickpeas in nearly all extinct and livingRomance languages, including theMozarabicwordchíchar; theCatalanwordsceirons,cigró,cigronera,cigronsandciurons; theWalloonwordspoes d' souke; theOld Frenchwordsceireandcice; and theModern Frenchtermscicérole,cicer tete-de-belier, andpois chiche.These words were borrowed by many geographically neighboring languages, such as the French termpois chichebecomingchich-peaseinOld English.The wordpease, like the modern words for wheat and corn, was both singular and plural, but since it had an "s" sound at the end of it which became associated with the plural form of nouns, English speakers by the end of the 17th century were starting to refer to a single grain of pease as apea.
Other important Proto-Indo-European roots relating to chickpeas are*erəgw[h]-,eregw(h)o-, anderogw(h)o-, which were used to denote both the kernel of alegumeand a pea.This root evolved into theGreekworderebinthos, mentioned inThe Iliadin around 800 BCE and inHistoria PlantarumbyTheophrastus, written between 350 and 287 BCE.ThePortuguesewordservançoandgravanço; theAsturianwordgarbanzu; theGalicianwordgaravanzo; the French wordsgarvanche,garvance, andgarvane; and theSpanishwordgarbanzoare all related to the Greek term.InAmerican English, the termgarbanzoto refer to the chickpea appeared in writing as early as 1759,and the seed is also referred to as a garbanzo bean.
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a member of the genusCicerand thelegumefamily,Fabaceae.Carl Linnaeusdescribed it in the first edition ofSpecies Plantarumin 1753, marking the first use ofbinomial nomenclaturefor the plant.Linnaeus classified the plant in the genusCicer, which was the Latin term for chickpeas,creditingJoseph Pitton de Tournefort's 1694 publicationElemens de botanique, ou Methode pour connoitre les planteswhich called it "Cicer arietinum".Tournefort himself repeated the names the plant that had been used since antiquity.
The specific epithetarietinumis based on the shape of the seed resembling the head of a ram.In Ancient Greece,Theophrastusdescribed one of the varieties of chickpea called "rams" inHistoria Plantarum.The Roman writer on agricultureLucius Junius Moderatus Columellawrote about chickpeas in the second book ofDe re rustica, published in about 64 CE,and said that the chickpea was calledarietillum.Pliny the Elderexpanded further inNaturalis Historiathat this name was due to the seed's resemblance to the head of a ram.
Cicer arietinumis thetype speciesof the genus.The wild speciesC. reticulatumis interfertile withC. arietinumand is considered to be the progenitor of the cultivated species.C. echinospermumis also closely related and can behybridizedwith bothC. reticulatumandC. arietinum, but generally produceinfertileseeds.
The chickpea was originally domesticated along withwheat,barley,peas, andlentilsduring theFirst Agricultural Revolutionabout 10,000 years ago.The closest evolutionary relative to chickpeas isCicer reticulatum, a plant native to a relatively small area in the Southeastern part of modern-dayTurkeyand nearby areas in modern-daySyria.Initially, ancient hunter-gatherer cultures harvested wild plants that they encountered, but evidence of the cultivation of some domestic food crops from 7500 BCE and possibly earlier have been documented.
Archaeological sites in modernSyria, such asTell El-KerkhandTell Abu Hureyra, have revealed remnant traces of peas, lentils, andfava beans, along with grain legumes including chickpeas,bitter vetch, andgrass peasfrom the 8th millenium BCE.Samples from Tell El-Kerkh have been analyzed, revealing traces of both the cultivatedC. arietinumand the wildC. reticulatum. Additional discoveries have been made atÇayönüin Turkey dating from between 7500 and 6800 BCE, and atHacilarin Turkey that date from 5450 BCE.
Cultivation of domesticated chickpea is well documented from 3300 BCE onwards inEgyptand theMiddle East.During theNeolithicEra, chickpea cultivation spread to the west and was established in present-dayGreeceby the late Neolithic Era.During theBronze Age, chickpea cultivation spread to Crete and as far as upper Egypt, with specimens from 1400 BCE found atDeir el-Medina. At the same time, it spread to the east, and chickpeas from 1900 BCE were found atTell Bazmusian.  In theIndian subcontinent, archaeological evidence of chickpea cultivation atLal Quila,Sanghol,Inamgaon,Nevasa,Hulas, Senuwar, andDaimabaddate from between 1750 and 1500 BCE.  By theIron Age, cultivation had spread as far south asLalibelainEthiopia.The Spanish and Portugese introduced chickpea cultivation to theNew Worldin the 16th century.
The process of domestication involved theselective breedingof plants that produced large, palatable seeds that do not require a dormancy period, plants that have seeds that are easy to separate from thepods, plants with a predictable ripening period to allow a whole field to ripen at once, and plants with desirable physical forms.This selective breeding produced several different varieties of chickpeas. In Greece,Theophrastuswrote "Chickpeas... differ in size, color, taste, and shape; there are the varieties called 'rams' and 'vetch-like' chickpeas, and the intermediate forms" inHistoria Plantarum, written between 350 and 287 BCE.
One key selection factor in the domestication of chickpeas was the selection of a spring-sown cropping season.  The evolutionary relatives ofCicer arietinumgrow during the Winter and are harvested in the Spring.In the Near East, more than 80 percent of annual precipitation occurs between the months of December and February, while the long summers are hot and dry.Growing in the damp Winter months made the crops vulnerable to Ascochyta blight caused byDidymella rabiei, resulting in crop failures.Recorded evidence shows that by theHellenistic periodand the time of theRoman Empire, summer cropping of chickpeas was being practiced.
Sequencing of the genomeof the chickpea has been completed for 90 chickpea genotypes, including several wild species.A collaboration of 20 research organizations, led by theInternational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT),  sequenced CDC Frontier, akabulichickpea variety, and identified more than 28,000 genes and several million genetic markers.
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 ofpulse, with one seedpod containing two or three peas. It has white flowers with blue, violet, or pink veins.
The most common variety of chickpea in South Asia,Ethiopia, Mexico, andIranis the desi type, also called Bengal gram.It has small, dark seeds and a rough coat. It can be black, green or speckled. InHindi, it is calleddesi chana'native chickpea' orkala chana'black chickpea', and inAssameseand Bengali, it is calledbootorchholaa boot. It can be hulled and split to makechana dal,Kurukshetra Prasadam(channa laddu),andbootor daali.
Around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, the most common variety of chickpea is the kabuli type. It is large and tan-colored, with a smooth coat. It was introduced to India in the 18th century from Afghanistan and is calledkabuli chanain Hindi.
An uncommon black chickpea,ceci neri, is grown only inApuliaandBasilicata, in southern Italy. It is around the same size as garbanzo beans, larger and darker than the 'desi' variety.
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 bepressure cookedorsous videcooked at 90 °C (194 °F).
Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold insalads, cooked instews, ground into flour, ground and shaped in balls and fried asfalafel, made into a batter and baked to makefarinataorsocca, or fried to makepanelle. Chickpea flour is known asgram flourorbesanin South Asia and is used frequently inSouth Asian cuisine.
InPortugal, chickpeas are one of the main ingredients inrancho, eaten with pasta, meat, or rice. They are used in other hot dishes withbacalhauand in soups, meat stews, salads mixed with tuna and vegetables, olive oil, vinegar, hot pepper and salt. In Spain, they are used cold intapasand salads, as well as incocido madrileño.
Hummus is the Arabic word for chickpeas, which are often cooked and ground into a paste and mixed withtahini(sesame seed paste) to makeḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna, usually called simply hummus in English. By the end of the 20th century, hummus had become common in American cuisine:by 2010, 5% of Americans consumed it regularly,and it was present at some point in 17% of American households.
In the Middle East, chickpeas are also roasted, spiced, and eaten as a snack, such asleblebi.
Chickpeas and Bengal grams are used to make curries.They are one of the most popular vegetarian foods in the Indian subcontinentand indiasporacommunities of many other countries, served with a variety of bread or steamed rice. Popular dishes in Indian cuisine are made with chickpea flour, such asmirchi bajjiandmirapakaya bajji.In India, as well as in theLevant, unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack, and the leaves are eaten as aleaf vegetablein salads. In India, desserts such asbesan halwaand sweets such asmysore pak, andladduare made.
Chickpea flour is used to make "Burmese tofu", which was first known among theShanpeople ofBurma. In South Asian cuisine, chickpea flour (besan) is used as a batter to coat vegetables before deep frying to makepakoras. The flour is also used as a batter to coat vegetables and meats before frying or fried alone, such aspanelle(little bread), a chickpeafritterfromSicily. Chickpea flour is used to make the Mediterranean flatbreadsoccaand is calledpanissein 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 inKannada, is used for making sweet dishMysore pak.
In thePhilippines, chickpeas preserved in syrup are eaten as sweets and in desserts such ashalo-halo.
Ashkenazi Jewstraditionally serve whole chickpeas, referred to asarbes(אַרבעס) in Yiddish, at theShalom Zacharcelebration for baby boys. The chickpeas are boiled until soft and served hot with salt and lots of ground black pepper.
Guasanasorgarbanzais 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 makemeringueor ice cream, with the residualpomaceused as flour.
In 1793, ground, roasted chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a substitute for coffee in Europe.In theFirst World War, they were grown for this use in some areas of Germany.They are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee.
Chickpeas are an energy and protein source asanimal feed.
Raw chickpeas have a lowertrypsinandchymotrypsininhibitor content than peas,common beans, andsoybeans. This leads to higher nutrition values and fewer digestive problems in nonruminants. 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 aslecithin,polyphenols,oligosaccharides; andamylase,protease, 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.
Ancient people also associated chickpeas withVenusbecause they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing semen and milk production, inducing menstruation and urination, and helping to treatkidney stones."White cicers" were thought to be especially strong and helpful.The 17th-century botanistNicholas Culpepernoted "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing.
In 2022, world production of chickpeas was 18 milliontonnes, led by India with 75% of the global total (table).
Chickpeas are a nutrient-dense food, providing rich content (20% or higher of theDaily Value, DV) ofprotein,dietary fiber,folate, and certaindietary minerals, such as iron andphosphorusin a 100-gram reference amount (see adjacent nutrition table).Thiamin,vitamin B6,magnesium, andzinccontents are moderate, providing 10–16% of the DV. Compared to reference levels established by the United NationsFood and Agriculture OrganizationandWorld Health Organization, proteins in cooked and germinated chickpeas are rich in essentialamino acidssuch aslysine,isoleucine,tryptophan, and totalaromatic amino acids.
A100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving of cooked chickpeas provides 686 kilojoules (164 kilocalories) offood energy. Cooked chickpeas are 60% water, 27%carbohydrates, 9%proteinand 3% fat (table).Seventy-five percent of the fat content isunsaturated fatty acidsfor whichlinoleic acidcomprises 43% of the total fat.
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.Raffinoseand sucrose and otherreducing sugarsdiffuse 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. TheB vitaminsriboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and pyridoxine dissolve into cooking water at differing rates.
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 andB vitaminsare 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.
In a 2002 study comparing germination and cooking effects on chickpea nutritional values, all treatments of cooking (autoclaving, microwave cooking, boiling) were found to improve protein digestibility. Essential amino acids were slightly increased by boiling and microwave cooking compared to autoclaving and germination. losses in B-vitamins and minerals in chickpeas cooked by microwaving were smaller than in those cooked by boiling and autoclaving.
Chickpeas contain oligosaccharides (raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose) which are indigestible to humans but are fermented in the gut by bacteria, leading toflatulencein susceptible individuals.This can be prevented by skinning the  husks from the chickpeas before serving.
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.
The consumption of chickpeas is under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect chronic diseases.
Agricultural yield for chickpeas is often based ongeneticandphenotypicvariability, which has recently been influenced by artificial selection.The uptake ofmacronutrientssuch asinorganicphosphorusornitrogenis vital to the plant development ofCicer arietinum, commonly known as theperennialchickpea.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 ofCicer 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 ofCicer 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 ofCicer 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 thatCicer arietinumdiffered from other plant species in its capacity to assimilate mineral nitrogen supply from the soil during drought stress.Additional minerals and micronutrients make the absorption process of nitrogen and phosphorus more available. Inorganicphosphateionsare generally attracted towards charged minerals such as iron and aluminiumoxides.
Additionally, growth and yield are also limited by themicronutrientszincandborondeficiencies 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 in chickpeas are the main cause of yield loss (up to 90%).One example is the fungusFusarium oxysporumf.sp.ciceris, present in most of the majorpulse crop-growing areas and causing regular yield damages between 10 and 15%.Many plant hosts produceheat shock protein 70sincludingC. arietinum.In response toF. o. cicerisGuptaet al., 2017 findsC. arietinumproduces anorthologueofAtHSP70-1, anArabidopsisHSP70.
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 areAscochyta rabiei(35 countries),Fusarium oxysporumf.sp.ciceris(32 countries)Uromyces ciceris-arietini(25 countries),bean leafroll virus(23 countries), andMacrophomina phaseolina(21 countries).Ascochytadisease 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 0.8 to 2.0 metric tons per hectare (0.32 to 0.80 long ton/acre; 0.36 to 0.89 short ton/acre) by breeding cold-resistant varieties, is always linked with pathogen-resistance breeding as pathogens such asAscochyta rabieiandF. o.f.sp.cicerisflourish in conditions such as cold temperature. Research started selecting favourable genes for pathogen resistance and other traits throughmarker-assisted selection. This method is a promising sign for the future to achieve significant yield improvements.