“Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old!”
The old rhyme refers to a soup/stew dating back to the Middle Ages, when it was known as pease pottage, a hearty staple in the diets of poor peasants, cooked in a footed pot on the cottage fire and unlikely to survive as long as nine days. Pea soup, cooked in a flavourful ham bones stock, has survived to this day, and very delicious too.
The United Nations has proclaimed 2016 the International Year of Pulses, “important food crops for the food security of large proportions of populations.”
Pulses are the seeds of the legume family (plants with pods), and include dried peas, dried beans, lentils, chickpeas and fresh fava (broad) beans but neither fresh peas and beans nor peanuts and soybeans. Pulses could well become the next genuine superfood, because they are very high in soluble and insoluble fibre, potassium and other minerals and have a low glycemic index. They are therefore heart-healthy, a good source of plant protein and help the body resist Type 2 diabetes.
Just 200 litres of water can produce one pound of pulses, compared with 980L for soybeans and 1,670L for peanuts. Production of pulses emits only five per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with beef production, giving them a much smaller carbon footprint.
Pulses have been found at an archaeological site dating back over 17,000 years in the eastern Mediterranean near the Sea of Galilee, along with stones for grinding flour. Evidence of cultivation of lentils has been found in the Egyptian pyramids and dry pea seeds have been discovered in a village in Switzerland dating back to the Stone Age.
Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of dry peas and lentils, shipping to more than 150 countries around the world each year, a trade worth over $3 billion in 2014, making them Canada’s fifth largest crop. Seventy-three per cent of Canada’s pulses are grown in Saskatchewan and 24 per cent are grown in Alberta, the rest in Manitoba and Ontario.
If you are wondering now whether we can grow pulses on Vancouver Island, you can get the information you need from the latest book by Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds: The Power of Pulses, Saving the World with Peas, Beans, Chick Peas, Favas and Lentils. You can also buy the seeds of these pulses from the same source.
If you want to skip the growing and can’t find pulses at local stores, I find the Coombs Old Country Market to be the best-stocked gourmet grocery within my reach. There are many fine pulse recipes at Pulse Canada (pulsecanada.com) or the Lentil Hunter site of celebrity chef, Michael Smith. You can skip the soaking and boiling of dried beans by using cans.
My favourite pulse recipes include Indian dahls, Middle Eastern hummus spreads, lentil or split pea soups and various salads.
Marjorie Stewart is past-chairwoman of the Nanaimo Foodshare Society. She can be reached at marjorieandalstewart@shaw.ca.