Producer Spotlight — Spanish chickpeas from “Green or Never”
UPDT from July 2021: We do not stock “Green or Never” chickpeas at the moment due to supply issues. But you can still buy dry, loose, organic chickpeas at Get Loose.
Chickpeas are grown on a very old farm called "La case de Henares". This has belonged to the same family for more than 200 years. It is located in the province of Granada in Andalusia (Southern Spain) near the village “Puebla de don Fadrique".
The farmhouse
The family has been producing organically for 20 years.
Chickpeas are one of the earliest cultivated legumes, 7500-year-old remains have even been found in the Middle East.
Due to the warm weather the chickpeas can grow out in the fields without cover. They take around 100 days before they are ready. Then harvested with agricultural machinery.
Chickpeas growing
Chickpeas do not need any processing. They are kept in the farm, in a dry place, away from the light and at an ambient temperature.
They are delivered to us in large reusable air-tight glass jars. Prior to this they are air freighted to the UK in bulk.
Jar of chickpeas
However Green or Never are working on a project to transport them with an electric car. They already do this for the organic almonds they grow.
Almond Trees on the farm
“This is a project which promotes the work and passion of authentic people who respect our environment, our health, our universal shared values to make a positive impact and inspire. This initiative stemmed from witnessing the environmental damages caused by the intensive agriculture and the greed for profit at the expense of everything else, including our sense of shared responsibility. Green or Never is a journey to reconnect with our origins, and be nature and human kind. It is now or never the time to be Greener.” Ange, Green or Never Founder (greenornever.com) Instagram @greenornever
Nutritional information
Chickpeas are a nutrient-dense food, providing rich content of protein, dietary fibre, folate, and certain dietary minerals, such as iron and phosphorus. Proteins in cooked chickpeas are rich in essential amino acids such as lysine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and total aromatic amino acids.
A portion is around 60g of dried chickpeas. This contains the following macro nutrients;
195 cals
14g protein
6g fibre
Cooking information
Soak overnight ideally or for 8 hours.
Cook for 45 mins to an hour.
Price
Get Loose £3.90 per kg / 39p per 100g
NOTE; Tesco, Sainsburys & Waitrose don’t sell organic dried chickpeas.
Tesco & Sainsburys tinned organic chickpeas are 75p (equivalent to 100g of dried chickpeas)
Recipe ideas
Humus of course! Also stews, soups, salads, burgers.
Bethnal Greens’ Chickpea Scramble
These suggestions are from The Bethnal Greens website thebethnalgreens.com
(note: where canned chickpeas are used, swap for 100g of dried and refer to cooking instructions above)