Storage: Store fresh garbanzo beans in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.
Shelf Life: Outer pods should keep their fresh appearance for 3-5 days. The beans should stay fresh for 5-7 days total.
Fresh chickpeas can either be cooked in-shell and then popped from their pods at the table (as you would soybeans) or shelled before use.
In their shells, chickpeas can be steamed, roasted, broiled or sautéed.
To remove fresh chickpeas from their pods, simply shell as you would conventional sweet peas, cracking open the pods and scraping out the beans with your fingers.
Once peeled, fresh garbanzo beans can be eaten raw, lightly blanched, sautéed, etc. Some chefs briefly blanch them in boiling salted water, then shock them in an ice water bath to “set the color” before serving or continuing to cook them using other methods.
Besides being served as a vegetable or addition to salads, fresh chickpeas can also be pureed into hummus and other purees or dips. Hummus is traditionally made by pureeing chickpeas with garlic, tahini, lemon, salt and olive oil.
Chickpeas are very adaptable and can be paired with a huge variety of other ingredients. They work particularly well onions, garlic, fine extra virgin olive oils, seafood, fava beans and mint.
Fresh Chickpea/Garbanzo Bean Recipes
