The United Nations declared 2016 The International Year of the Pulses to increase public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses and the role they play in sustainable food production. You’ll be hearing a lot about pulses this year and you should learn to love them!
What are pulses and why you should learn love them
Pulses are a part of the legume family and include: dried beans, dried peas, chickpeas and lentils. They come come in a variety of colours and sizes ranging from extra small to large. Some common varieties found on grocery store shelves are large green lentils, split red lentils, dried or canned chickpeas, as well as dark red kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans. When we use the word split to describe a lentil or pea, it means that the coat around the seed has been removed and the inner part (known as the cotyledon) has been split in half. Split pulses cook faster than whole and are equally nutritious. Fresh peas, fresh beans and soybeans, while members of the legume family, are not pulses.
Pulses are packed with nutritional benefits! They are very high in fibre, a good source of protein, are low in fat and provide substantial amounts of vitamins and minerals.
The picture below shows chickpeas (bottom left), split green peas (top left) and split red lentils (right).
Here are a few great pulse recipes to get you started on your way to learning to love pulses!
Here’s another great pulse recipe, from Chef Vikram Vij: Curried Chickpeas
You can find out more about pulses at Pulse Canada or specifically about lentils at Canadian Lentils.
