Tom Culton reduced the price of the chickpeas he was selling Sunday at the Headhouse Square farmers' from the previous week by two bucks, so a light pint cost me $5 rather than $7.
Still, they were rather pricey considering that once shelled they produced only half a cup of legumes.
They were extraordinarily good. I cooked them simply: a two or three minute douse in gently boiling water, followed by a quick sauté in olive oil, garlic and a couple twists of black pepper.
But considering the cost, yield, and nearly 40 minutes spent shelling the peas, it's a pricey delicacy I'll probably pass on in the future.
In the process of shelling the chickpeas, about 10 percent turned out to be black. I cooked both the black peas and the greener ones together, and both tasted fine.
Tom says he has a lot of black chickpeas growing, but doesn't have the time to harvest the crop. Instead, he'll dry them on the vines, then bring the harvest to a local mill to turn into flour later this season.
1 comment:
Apparently the chickpeas take forever to harvest, hence the high price!
Post a Comment