Your hummus coat could be good for the Earth: Salt: NPR

Humus is very popular with American consumers, and it could be as good for the soil as it is for our health.

Formerly relegated to the snack bar in American grocery stores, the chickpea dip has long been the centerpiece of Middle Eastern dishes and, increasingly, herbal diets. Sometimes it even serves as a dessert. According to the most recent consumer surveys, Americans have spent four times more money than in the last 10 years on hummus in grocery stores. An increasing number of snacks and fast food concepts also offer chick peas rich in fiber and protein. like their main dish.

Legumes, legumes, chickpeas – as well as lentils, dried peas and several varieties of beans – have been an essential crop and food product for centuries in the Middle East and Asian countries. The crops are so promising that the United Nations has designated 2016 "Year of Pulses" to develop interest in these ancient foods and their potential to help solve puzzles of the day: hunger and soil depreciation.

Some US farmers were already well on their way to adopting legumes, recognizing the role they could play in improving soil health and paving the way for better cash crop crops such as wheat. Last year, US farmers planted more chickpeas than ever to meet the growing demand for plant-based replacement protein, which could help restore depleted soils through decades of intensive farming.

Unlike corn or wheat, these legumes fix their own nitrogen from the atmosphere, leaving additional nutrient reserves in the soil for future crops. For this reason, legumes can play a vital role in crop rotation, especially those that are not dependent on chemical fertilizers. In addition, if properly managed, these crops can be part of an agricultural system that sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and helps mitigate climate change.

"I consider this diversification and these legumes as a way to get rid of the use of synthetic nitrogen," said Casey Bailey, a farmer in Fort Benton, Montana, who grows chickpeas. biological as a pillar of a rotation program. "It's a tough culture to grow, but I'm a big believer in trying to figure out how to do it."

He sells about 2,000 pounds of chickpeas a month at Little Sesame, a quick and casual concept serving bowls of seasoned vegetable hummus in two different locations in the District of Columbia. Nick Wiseman, head chef, and Ronen Tenne, of Israeli descent, steep the dried chickpeas for hours before cooking and mixing them (with tahini, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice ) in daily batches to satiate the crowds of the city after work – often without adding meat.

"We do not say much, but 80% of the menu is still vegan," says Wiseman. "It's great to see people who would probably eat meat every day would come here and be content with it."

For Wiseman, the icing on the cake to open a second site this year is going to buy more Kabuli chickpeas in Bailey, which he will visit this summer during a trip to the Volkswagen van of Little Sesame in 1978. The creation of markets for these legumes – especially those grown without chemicals, such as desiccants used to dry chickpeas in fields – is generating increasing interest in Wiseman.

"These chickpeas help restore the western grasslands, which are this huge carbon sink," says Wiseman in front of a bowl of hummus topped with snow peas and Aleppo chili oil in his neighborhood. Chinatown. "They are a very powerful plant."

Bailey planted his first hundreds of acres of chickpeas a dozen years ago, after a retailer sought to sell more healthful legumes that had been communicated to him on LinkedIn, making him a pioneer in the region of the Golden Triangle, rich in grains in Montana. But the rumor was that chickpea could yield more money per pound than other legumes, while reducing the need for chemical inputs compared to crops such as wheat.

When Tim McGreevy began working in 1994 as CEO of the US Dry Pea & Lentil Council and the American Pulse Association – a trade group that advocates the power of chickpeas, lentils, dried peas and beans – the country harvested about 30,000 acres of chickpeas each year, mainly in the hilly agricultural region of Palouse, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Last year this number had climbed to 859,000 acres.

"It's a big difference in 25 years," said McGreevy, who also grows chickpeas on a small farm in eastern Washington.

Bailey said in particular that "last year, it seemed like the whole state of Montana was chickpeas."

Although half of the country's chickpea harvest is still shipped overseas, an increasing number of chickpeas are moving into domestic markets as demand grows. Trade disputes also make international markets less reliable. In 2019, American farmers reduced for the first time in years the number of acres they planned to plant in chickpeas, to 519,000 acres. Volatile trade riffs with countries such as India in 2018 left much of this year's crop in silos, where oversupply continued to depress chickpea prices this year.

"The saving grace – and why I remain optimistic – is that the domestic market continues to grow for all legumes," McGreevy said. He thinks that the lower price could also stimulate even more innovation in chickpea-based foods. "Chickpeas, in particular, have seen significant growth in their sales over the last decade."

Americans have spent nearly $ 800 million on hummus in retail stores in 2018, McGreevy said. This compares to just under $ 200 million in hummus sales a decade ago and only $ 5 million in the mid-1990s, placing the popular dip among the fastest-growing sectors of the retail trade. foodstuffs.

Sabra Dipping Co., an Israeli company associated with PepsiCo since 2008, has led the hummus parade in US markets over the last decade and remains one of the leading players in the sector. A Sabra production plant located in Chesterfield County, Virginia, where the company also encouraged more farmers to grow chickpeas, was expanded in 2014 to produce more than 8,000 tons of hummus per month in anticipation of market growth.

The chickpea invasion has also surpassed the immersion stage, with crisp roasted versions of companies like Hippeas and The Good Bean competing with potato chips as a healthy alternative. The dietary recommendations of the United States suggest that Americans eat 1 ½ cups of legumes a week, notes McGreevy. High in protein, dietary fiber and essential amino acids, legumes can play an even bigger role in diets aimed at reducing meat consumption.

Humus is already an important part of US snack tables, replacing ranch dressing as a healthier accompaniment to cut vegetables. And, now, he is also organizing a takeover of the main meal. The hummus-based bowls are the centerpiece of such chains as The Hummus & Pita Co. in New York and a staple of the growing number of fast-moving Mediterranean concepts like Cava and Roti. Chickpeas appear on the menu in Asian noodle dishes, french fries, soft ice cream and icings such as desserts.

But perhaps the best way to get into the chickpea battle is to find a very good bowl of hummus – which also serves as the Arabic word for chickpea – and to shovel it.

Whitney Pipkin is an independent journalist who lives near Washington, DC. You can find more of his work here. Follow her on Twitter at @ WhitneyPipkin.