The pulses are rising
FROM MUSHY PEAS AND FAVA BEANS TO CHANA DAL AND FALAFEL, MISUNDERSTOOD FOOD GROUP IS FINDING ITS WAY BACK TO OUR PLATES
Radical politics, psychedelic drugs, experimental sex: there were many dangers haunting nervous parents as they sent their children to university in the 1970s. But Jenny Chandler was warned about a different threat: “My father gave me this lecture about being sensible, not getting drunk at parties and never eating red kidney beans, because back then there was this whole thing about the toxins you have to boil out of [raw] red kidney beans. As a student, I was terrified of them.”
Now a teacher and writer, author of the cookbook Pulse, and formerly the UN’s European ambassador during its 2016 pulse campaign, Chandler has overcome that fear in style. Yet pulses (dried legume seeds including lentils, chickpeas, beans and peas) still suffer from a serious image problem.
Too much hassle
Britain hoovers up hummus and baked beans, but, outside foodie circles, cooking with pulses — especially dried pulses, which need pre-soaking — is often regarded as too much hassle, for a food that is commonly portrayed as a right-on penance rather than a source of pleasure. Clean-eating’s wispy gurus have given many obscure health foods a glossy modern sheen, but in pop cultural terms, the lentil’s most famous exponent remains Neil from
Yet, despite all that, British pulses are rising. The Young Ones. quietly,
Fresh from a primary school dal cookery class and lunch at Bristol farmers’ market, Chandler is evangelical about pulses — be it dried or tinned. “They’re incredibly economical and versatile chameleons in that they’ll take on whatever Italian, Spanish, Mexican or Indian flavours you want,” she says.
“They’re also nutritious, full of protein and fibre, and a nobrainer if you’re worried about gaining weight or blood-sugar levels because you’ve got this complex carbohydrate, slow-release energy. They keep you full for hours, and feeling content rather than sluggish.”
Across town in Bristol’s staunchly indie Stokes Croft enclave, the eco-focused Poco Tapas is fully engaged with the potential of pulses. In particular, it is an early adopter of the UK-grown pulses distributed by Suffolk’s pioneering Hodmedod.
Fava’s rebirth
A bustling, unvarnished barrestaurant, Poco uses Hodmedod’s fava beans to make silky hummus and crisp, airy falafel, just as the Egyptians do. It also uses earthy carlin peas (AKA Lancashire’s black peas) in a dish of merguez sausage and labneh, and Hodmedod’s yellow split peas — larger than a lentil, but with that same creamy, melting quality — in its dal.
“People overlook pulses because we’re brought up eating tins of overcooked processed pulses or sad, stale [dried pulses] which have sat in the cupboard for years,” says Poco co-owner Ben Pryor. “But when they’re fresh and high-quality, split peas or carlin peas can be an exceptional part of a meal. They’re the most amazing colour, shape and texture.”
A diminutive cousin of the common broad bean, the fava bean has been grown here since the Iron Age. However, its fate in modern Britain (the best beans are exported to Egypt, most are sold as animal feed) encapsulates how UK pulses have faded.
However, the growing cost and ecological impact of eating meat, along with concerns about food security, could help pulses stage a comeback. The few hundred tonnes of UK pulses that Hodmedod distributes annually, sourced from a small network of dedicated farms, is a tiny fraction of total UK production, estimated at 730,000 tonnes, and Hodmedod’s wackier projects, such as last year’s first commercial UK lentil harvest, are at this stage totemic. But its rapid growth has demonstrated that you can create an appetite for UK pulses, even the neglected, mysterious fava bean, and that is has been noted by the larger pulse players.
There are precedents for such a change. In the past 30 years, Canada has radically increased its pulse production. It is now the world’s largest exporter of peas and lentils.
But what of another significant problem? Not one of price or convenience, but flatulence? Will pulses always be followed by an ill wind that inhibits their popularity? Chandler thinks the issue is overblown: “My family had 18 months of serious pulse-eating for my book and, this sounds bizarre, I think you become more tolerant and less windy as you get used to them.”
Failing that, there are ingredients you can add, such as cumin or seaweed, that are thought to break down the oligosaccharides that cause those explosive aftereffects. If you are keen to explore the world of pulses beyond baked beans, it’s worth bearing in mind. Your family and friends will be forever grateful.