A different vegetable to harvest

Have you ever grown your own chickpeas (garbanzo beans)?  I had never thought of using any of my store cupboard seeds in my vegetable patch until last year.


Never having seen them available in a seed packet, the thought of growing my own never occurred to me, until I grew another batch of (food cupboard) organic chickpea seeds in my sprouting tower last year.  Seeing all those life-giving shoots appearing out of the seeds, I decided that I would take a couple of the chickpea sprouts and chuck them in some seedling soil.  Which I did.  When they started sprouting small leaves, I planted them in the old bath here in my town garden, and forgot about them.


This is the sight that greeted me in the garden a short while later:

Chickpea plant

As you can see chickpeas are quite a strange looking plant.  To me they almost resemble a fern.  They do not send out support tendrils, and their leaf structure is completely different to that of peas.  Finding the fruit can be quite difficult, as they seem to hide under the leaves.  I wonder if the plants would twirl themselves up a supporting fence?  Perhaps that would alleviate the apparent inherent shyness of the chickpea pods?

Chickpea pod on the plant

When you do manage to spot a chickpea pod on the plant, and harvest the fruit, do like I did - prise it open and pop it into your mouth - raw.  It is quite delicious!  The chickpea has a distinct pea taste, but is crisper and crunchier.


If you study a fresh chickpea it's appearance is very reminiscent of that of a brain.  No wonder they are so beneficial for us humans.

Fresh chickpeas

I will definitely be growing chickpeas next year, both for fresh consumption and to see if I can store them dry for the following winter.  Perhaps with the soil on the farm, I will manage to grow more than two (chick)peas in a pod :)

Empty egg shells I'm going to be planting seeds in

Now, 'scuse me, I need to go an plant up some broad (fava) beans and spring onions in the eggshells I've been saving :)


Oh - and by the way.  For those of you who have little ones, and you want to increase their appreciation, and intake of veggies, why not check out the idea's on this blog :)