Hello everyone new poster here,

I’ve recently started up a raw food lifestyle. So far it’s going great and I know it’s only going to get better.

But I have a question to ask about pulses.

In Tesco’s (A supermarket in the UK) I picked up a bag of Chick-peas, they were Tesco’s own brand I was going to buy them cause I read in a raw food book that you can eat them once soaked for a specific period.

But it had on the back of the packet: Caution: Do not eat raw pulses.

This scared me off a bit till I could find out what the score is.

I’ve had a look online and I see sprouting them is no problem but I can’t find anything on soaked chick peas. I’d be very grateful if anyone could clear this up for me.

I’m thinking that Tesco’s mean; don’t eat them raw if they are not soaked?


Bye for now

Simon

I read some years ago that raw chick peas can make you very, very ill. In India they now have a law that chick pea flour (which is used for all kinds of recipes there) must be ROASTED first to destroy an enzyme or something.

I read about that on some site it's not the same
Heres a cut and paste job of that bit:

"In India, where food is often scarce, some people have resorted to eating a non-edible pea known as Lathyrus sativus. It is often called "chickpea" but is NOT the same chickpea eaten in this country or any other developed country.The edible chickpea is of the genus Cicer and in botany is known as Cicer arietinum. Outbreaks of lathyrism in India have been blamed on eating large amounts of the non-edible chickpea without proper cooking. Well-cooked, it is safe to eat. But it shouldn’t matter to us at all because it is considered an inedible species."

Thanks for trying though.

I make a delicious raw hummus out of raw chickpeas and eat plenty without a trace of indigestion. I don't know whether or not I'm getting different type of chick pea than the one in your store.

I failed at making a good-tasting raw hummus for a long time, it always came out very bitter. Then I found the secret: I soak and sprout the beans for 2-3 days and rinse them 2-3 times a day like crazy. There's a lot of starchy looking water that rinses off. Then I put them in the food processor with plenty of garlic, a little lemon juice, some good quality olive oil, and any seasonings. It's very yummy, not at all bitter and completely digestible.

Some people have a problem with raw garbanzos sprouted if and when I do eat them I will soak them for 24 hours then let them sprout a little for another 24.
I think Rawheadrex had it correct in the last sentence as for India and chick peas I am there right now and they do make use of it a lot but I have not had any here yet just mainly fruit.
Cherimoya

You need to sprout them for seven days, not just soak them; then they will be safe to eat. (I don't understand why none of the posters above bothered to just point this out?)

dream earth,

"You need to sprout them for seven days, not just soak them; then they will be safe to eat. (I don't understand why none of the posters above bothered to just point this out?)"

???? You pronounce that as a fact, but it's not my experience or, obviously, the experience of other people. What leads you to believe that?

That is, scientifically, the point when you've releived the legumes of most of their toxins. For safety and health, therefore, that is the ideal time to eat them. Your experience didn't involve a microscope, so I don't reccommend it.

Dream Earth, do you have any documentation concerning your statement about sprouting for 7 days? I've found that sprouting for 24 hrs is enough time and keeps them from being bitter. Also, I pulse them around a couple of times in the food processor, pour them out into a collander and then rinse them again. Then, back into the food processor to make into humus.


Life Is Good!

alive!

Alive!

That's a great idea about pulsing them in the food processor and then rinsing them. I'll bet that will cut down my soak/sprout time.

I never tried to sprout them for 7 days because beyond 3 or 4 days you have to rinse them a lot and they seem to go bad or sure smell like they are going bad and in all the times over the years of eating garbanzo sprouts 2 days is all I do they taste best for me that way.

Cherimoya

It is true (for me,anyway) that trying to sprout them for more then a few days causes them to go smelly and slimy.

Hello raw foodies. I'm a new member to the site. Nice t'meetcha'all.

How disappointing that you sprout aficionados have as much trouble sprouting garbanzos as I do.

I have had success sprouting garbanzos for maybe as long as 9 days (it was more than a year ago. I don't remember the precise time span.), at which point they sprout a leaf from the same orifice as the root. At this point they taste totally inedible. Unfortunately, in order to sprout them for that long, I washed them in tap water 4-6 times a day. If I wash the garbanzos any less often than that, they self-destruct. Not only do they stink and taste bitter-sour, but the toxin they produce actually dissolves the beans. I've tried cooking them when they start to poison themselves, but even then they taste kinda sour and once made me nauseous.

I have very occassional luck soaking & rinsing with purified water instead of tap water, but generally the beans still begin to dissolve themselves after one day. I wonder if environmental factors matter? e.g. the cleanliness of the kitchen, whether you're sprouting in glass or plastic, whether you rinse through a screen or a cloth, how thoroughly you rinse, etc.

I love garbanzo beans. They are a staple of my diet, and I would love to have more information on successfully sprouting them. Anyone got any more experiences, successful or un-?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2006 07:05PM by RawSewage.

kale, kidney beans, soy beans and garbanzo sprouts shouldn't be eaten raw. while garbanzos may just irritate your digestion (and they are whether you feel it at the time or not), the others are simply toxic. you can take my word for it as the resident expert on sprouts or you can take your chances, i'm not about to go siting any studies here, you Can find that all on your own (as well you should).
marrowfat peas make a reasonable substitute for chick peas (they still upset my stomach though) but there are Tons of recipes for legume-free hummus that are more than worth trying out (sunflower seeds, zucchini, cauliflower, etc).

i'm not an extremist by any means but there really are some things that should get left right out of an exclusively raw food diet. the end result of stressing your body out with indigestables over time is an overly taxed system that functions poorly.

is there a difference between raw and sprouted?

I forgot to include raw tahini in the ingredient list below. I certainly use that in my raw hummus.

greenie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I make a delicious raw hummus out of raw chickpeas
> and eat plenty without a trace of indigestion. I
> don't know whether or not I'm getting different
> type of chick pea than the one in your store.
>
> I failed at making a good-tasting raw hummus for a
> long time, it always came out very bitter. Then I
> found the secret: I soak and sprout the beans for
> 2-3 days and rinse them 2-3 times a day like
> crazy. There's a lot of starchy looking water that
> rinses off. Then I put them in the food processor
> with plenty of garlic, a little lemon juice, some
> good quality olive oil, and any seasonings. It's
> very yummy, not at all bitter and completely
> digestible.

Coco--

Kale shouldn't be eaten raw? Do you have a citation for that? I eat a lot of raw kale and feel great. This is an interesting development.

Thanks.

Raw Daddy -- livin' raw and lovin' it

In my never ending quest to find a reason for my constantly swollen glands under my neck, I was told raw legumes can cause symptoms similar to those of Lupus..

I'll try and dig out the post..
Whilst they're quite satiating I find Chickpeas to be one of the WORST offenders for flatulance production, even after days of sprouting and regular cleaning.. which doesn't imply their much good to me.

kale, kidney bean, soy bean and garbanzo SPROUTS. eat as much raw leafy kale as you like. great stuff.