What is a chickpea?

Answer 1

It is a yellow pea a bit smaller then a marble. They are also known as garbonzo beans. They are used in a wide variety of dishes including soups, chillis, or hummus (ground chick peas with garlic, olive oil, sesame paste and sometimes various other spices that is served as a dip or spread.)

Answer 2

The chickpea, chick pea, garbanzo bean, ceci bean, bengal gram, chana or channa (Cicer arietinum) is an edible legume (English "pulse") of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae.

The plant is 20 to 50 cm high and has small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem. One seedpod contains two or three peas. The flowers are white- or reddish-blue. Chickpeas need a subtropical or tropical climate and more than 400 mm annual rain. They can be grown in a temperate climate, but yields will be much lower. It is often used as an alternative protein product with vegetarians and vegans and is one of the plants with the highest amount of protein.

Answer 3

Chickpea is grown in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions. Kabuli type is grown in temperate regions while the desi type chickpea is grown in the semi-arid tropics (Muehlbauer and Singh, 1987; Malhotra et al., 1987). Chickpea is valued for its nutritive seeds with high protein content, 25.3-28.9 %, after dehulling (Hulse, 1991). Chickpea seeds are eaten fresh as green vegetables, parched, fried, roasted, and boiled; as snack food, sweet and condiments; seeds are ground and the flour can be used as soup, dhal, and to make bread; prepared with pepper, salt and lemon it is served as a side dish (Saxena, 1990). Dhal is the split chickpea without its seedcoat, dried and cooked into a thick soup or ground into flour for snacks and sweetmeats (Saxena, 1990; Hulse, 1991). "Sprouted seeds are eaten as a vegetable or added to salads. Young plants and green pods are eaten like spinach. A small proportion of canned chickpea is also used in Turkey and Latin America, and to produce fermented food. Animal feed is another use of chickpea in many developing countries. An adhesive may also be prepared; although not water-resistant, it is suitable for plywood. Gram husks, and green or dried stems and leaves are used for stock feed; whole seeds may be milled directly for feed. Leaves are said to yield an indigolike dye. Acid exudates from the leaves can be applied medicinally or used as vinegar. In Chile, a cooked chickpea-milk (4:1) mixture was good for feeding infants, effectively controlling diarrhea. Chickpeas yield 21% starch suitable for textile sizing, giving a light finish to silk, wool, and cotton cloth" (Duke, 1981).

Answer 4

and Italians called the ceci bean (sounds like chi chi)

Answer 5

Its a garbonzo bean, plain and simple.