Move over edamame? Fresh garbanzos — the moist, raw version of a legume usually dried, canned or turned into hummus — may just be the new "new" thing.
Garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, generally ripen on the plant into the shriveled, beige pebbles most people are familiar with. But fresh chickpeas, which are picked in their infancy, are green and encased in thin, pliant pods, much like edamame (soybeans in their shells.)
Available only a few weeks a year, fresh chickpeas are prized among in-the-know foodies and sophisticated chefs for their novelty and their young, slightly vegetal taste."It tastes like being outside this time of year," says Josh DeChellis, executive chef at New York's La Fonda Del Sol restaurant, where he chars chickpeas in their pods and dresses them with olive oil and salt. "When the guest gets them, they're participating in the season. There's something about that participation which forms a nice connection with the dish right off the bat."Fresh garbanzos have been available in California supermarkets and from street vendors in Latino neighborhoods for years. But only recently have they begun to infiltrate other markets. DeChellis first put them on his menu last year when a supplier introduced him to them, but Whole Foods Market brought them to wider attention in late March when it began carrying them in its northeast stores.
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