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Garbanzo beans contain healthy nutrients including protein, manganese, folate, tryptophan, copper, phosphorus and iron. And they have a delicius nutty taste. Enjoy then in hummus, sprout them and add them to salas or any way you can find
Raw garbanzo beans?! Yes please! Are they pricey?
robin – it looks to me like they ARE dehydrated. what website was selling them fresh? “Tarazi Garbanzo Beans are pale yellow in color, are sold dehydrated, and shipped in a fifty five pound bag.” http://www.tarazifoods.com/store/home.php?cat=254
Winona – I called Tarazi Foods to clarify. The beans are not dehydrated. The woman I spoke with said they receive it from an overseas supplier, and the bean is hard as a rock. She said she’s under the impression they receive them in a raw state because although they’ve been cleaned first by the supplier, Tarazi cleans them again, not with water or other liquid, but by a sifting process that eliminates little rocks or clumps of dirt or other debris that was missed during the first cleaning process. She’ll be finding out if any other processing is done to them, and the pesticide situation when growing them. I’ll then post an update.
So are the garbanzo beans at WF not raw then? I don’t normally use them but I thought I might give it one more go to try it in a hummus. Normally they turn out so bitter after soaking.
Received info from Tarazi Foods:
Their overseas supplier uses no pesticides at all because where they are grown, the climate is very hot and dry; bugs don’t like that climate. When the supplier cleans them before shipping, it involves nothing more than a raking (sifting) process. When the bags enter U.S. customs, like every other import,US customs require everything to be fumigated, but the good news is that the garbonzo’s come in a non-porous bag so the fumigation never comes in contact with the contents, and the fumigation substance used is a non-chemical.
Tarazi Foods is located in Chino, CA, a family owned business. Christine is the woman who was great in researching my questions and getting back to me quickly. You can reach her with any questions by email (preferred because it gives her time to research your question if that is necessary) – info@tarazifoods.com
She said the 55 lb bag ($60) they sell it in is quite large. She’s 5’4” and the bag comes up to her upper thigh, just so you know what you’re getting yourself into if you buy it. I will be offering to share a bag with other raw foodists in my area. Forgot to ask what the shipping cost would be.
But first – how to use it? Christine said in the past, she experimented boiled the beans for 4 hours, and they never softened from their rock-hard state. Some people have even added baking soda to increase the heat, with no success. That’s why they use, and recommend others to do so, a pressure cooker, not an option for us.
So, any suggestions how it might be usable for us? A coffee grinder? VitaMix or food processor?
Damn 4 hours and still not soft… wow sound inedible for the raw foodist.
I made a live hummus once with the dehydrated garbanzos I got at my local health food store (I know, some do NOT consider that raw). Anyhow, I soaked the beans for 2 days until they sprouted (if they sprouted, they must have had some life in them, right? After they sprouted, I put them in the food processor with all the other normal ingredients for hummus – lime, tahini, etc. and it made a very filling, bitter version of hummus. The raw garbanzos have a bitter taste, so I used more garlic & tahini, but it was good.
WailingWoman- I’m wondering what was done to the garbanzos to be able to dehydrate them? They would have to have been cooked in some way, no? Maybe that’s what you were referring to that some might not consider it raw. Somewhere on this site, I saw a non-garbanzo bean recipe for hummus. I love hummus so I may have to try it out if using garbanzo beans becomes too much of a hassle (and if, in the end, it tastes bitter).