Cicer Arientinum! Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Chick Pea!

The chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its seeds are high in protein. It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes: 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East. Other common names for the species include garbanzo bean, ceci bean, channa and Bengal gram.

 



Hummus is the Arabic word for chickpeas, which are often cooked and ground into a paste and mixed with tahini, sesame seed paste, the blend called hummus bi tahini, or chickpeas are roasted, spiced, and eaten as a snack, such as leblebi. By the end of the 20th century, hummus had emerged as part of the American culinary fabric. By 2010, 5% of Americans consumed hummus on a regular basis, and it was present in 17% of American households.
I've always loved chick peas but they tend to, well let's just say I need to be outdoors the next day!  But hey they're good for you, that's all that matters right!  Put em in a salad, or a soup, or maybe in a vegetable stew or just eat them out of the can by the handful.  Get all fancy and make some Middle Eastern dish with the legume chick pea as the center piece!  Put them on skewers and roast them, just kidding, I was seeing how far you would go!  Heck why not make a big ol batch of Hummus!  It's a great snack and can be used in a whole bunch of ways, in a Pita sandwich or as a dip as shown above, I made that doesn't it look pretty?  Jump on over to the recipe page and check out the recipe for the Hummus shown above in the soups and side dishes as well as my Roasted Red Pepper and Hummus Pita sandwich recipe in the Main dish category.  Make it, eat it, comments, cheers or jeers are always welcome!  Get off your duff and cook! Ciao!