Pulses are praised for their health, environmental and economic benefits. How can their full potential be tapped?
e-Consultation
Submission by Huseyin Arslan
President of the Global Pulse Confederation
· Some countries produce large amounts of pulses, but these are not a part of their respective diets. How can the use of pulses be increased in communities where these crops do not play an important role in the local cuisine/traditional meals?
It is true that pulses are consumed by the kilo in Africa and Asia, but surprisingly absent on Western menus. This ancient food crop has formed an essential part of diets all over the world for thousands of years, from Esau’s biblical bowl of lentil stew to the dhal Mahatma Gandhi lived on. And when it comes to today’s dietary and environmental challenges, pulses have many answers as they are high in protein and fibre, and low in fat. In addition, they require a fraction of the water that many other popular parts of global diets demand, meaning their cultivation is also sustainable in a world of scarce natural resources.
The earliest production of pulses can be traced as far back as 7500 BC, when lentils indigenous to South Western Asia and the Mediterranean region were first farmed. Evidence of lentil production was also discovered in Egyptian pyramids and dry peas were found in a Swiss village that are thought to date back to the Stone Age. It is believed that chickpeas spread from the ancient Mediterranean area between Morocco in the west and the Himalayas in east during the period prior to 3000 BC.
The word “pulse” may originate from the Latin word “puls” for thick soup. Lentils, beans, chickpeas and peas are enjoyed in many ways, including simple stews.
Thanks to a recent renaissance in creative ways to cook with pulses, there are numerous new and exciting ways we can pack them into our daily diets in flours, appetizers, mains, desserts and even cocktails, here are a few ideas:
• Pancakes: Seasoned chickpea flour can make a nutritious, gluten-free alternative to breakfast pancakes that can be topped with sweet or savoury foods.
• Snacks: To beat the mid-morning munchies, oven-roast some pre-cooked lentils with sunflower oil, chili flakes, garlic powder and a pinch of oregano for a punchy, crunchy snack.
• Burgers: For a healthier, burger or vegetarian option, kidney beans can be mashed, seasoned and oven cooked. Borlotti, butter beans or chickpeas can also be used. Beans can be used as a complementary ingredient. Create a 100% black bean burger, OR add 50% black beans to your beef for a new approach!
• Potatoes: White beans added to mashed potatoes are an awesome way to mix up the traditional dish. Blending pulses as a partner or a replacement is a great way to improve protein intake without changing your meal plan.
• Purees: Blend peas with broccoli and mint to make a nutrient packed alternative to mashed potato to accompany bruschetta.
• Cakes: Black beans can be a secret ingredient to a rich, gluten-free chocolate cake.
Today, pulses are the main component of many national dishes. Below are a few examples of traditional recipes made from pulses. The complete collection can be found on pulses.org in the National Signature Dish section:
• Brazil: Black beans are slow-cooked with meat and sausages to make the stew feijoada. In Bahia, black eyed-peas are seasoned and fried to make spicy acarajé.
• Myanmar: Yellow split peas are ground to make flour, mixed with water and left to set, making a yellow tofu that can be eaten fresh in a salad or deep fried.
• China: Kidney bean rolls named yun dou juan are very popular in Beijing.
• Colombia: Red beans are often cooked with pork, white rice, ground meat, fried egg, plantain and avocado among other ingredients to make dishes such as bandeja paisa.
• Ethiopia: Powdered chickpeas or broad beans are mixed with onion, garlic and ginger or chilli peppers to make shiro, a favourite dish during celebrations.
• Egypt: The spicy stew made from fava beans, ful medames, is the national dish of Egypt and is traditionally eaten at breakfast.
• France: Puy lentils are featured in many national dishes • India: Dhal, a stew prepared from spices and split lentils is a staple food across all of Southern Asia, traditionally eaten with rice.
• Italy: Traditional Minestrone soup uses borlotti beans along with an array of vegetables.
• Israel: Falafel - deep fried balls made from ground chickpeas or fava beans – are considered the national dish of Israel are popular as a street food across the globe.
• Japan: Azuki beans are mixed with sugar to create a sweet paste called an which is used in desserts.
• Macedonia: Butter beans, onion and red pepper are combined to make the national dish tavče gravče.
• Spain: Cocido madrileño mixes chickpeas with meat and vegetables to make a popular winter dish. • Turkey: Chickpeas are blended to make the world famous dip hummus
• Venezuela: A staple throughout Latin America, black beans are seasoned with cumin and oregano as well as onions and garlic to make frijoles negros.
For more information:
http://pulses.org/pulse-hub/fact-sheets/download?path=iyp_factsheet_worldcuisines.pdf
The Global Pulse Confederation has been working diligently to celebrate the International Year of Pulses and to use the year in particular as a platform to share the benefits of pulses with consumers who would not yet have pulses as part of their diets. To do so, hundreds of recipes were collected, including 66 World’s Greatest Pulse Dishes and 29 Best of India recipes. It is important to share with consumers how to store, cook and be creative with pulses. There are so many varieties of pulses and recipes, the options are endless. It is a matter of communicating well with the consumers on how they can be easily incorporated in their diets. ½ cup per day of pulses brings important health and nutritional benefits.
For more information:
· Do you have any examples on how the consumption of pulses contributes to household food security and nutrition in your community or country, which may be useful in different contexts?
In most developing countries, pulses play a fundamental role as a low-fat, high fibre source of protein, an essential component of traditional food baskets. Pulses, by contributing about 10 percent in the daily protein intake and 5 percent in energy intake, are of particular importance for food security in low income countries where the major sources of proteins are non-animal products. In addition, pulses also contain significant amounts of other essential nutrients like calcium, iron and lysine. Pulses are included in all ‘food baskets’ and dietary guidelines. The World Food Programme (WFP) for instance includes 60 grams of pulses in its typical food basket, alongside cereals, oils and sugar and salt Over 60 percent of total utilisation of pulses is for human consumption. But the importance of pulses in human diets varies from region to region and country to country, with a general trend of higher consumption in lower income nations. The share of food use in total utilisation of pulses in the developing countries is over 75 percent, compared to 25 percent in the developed countries.
Complementing animal feed with improved varieties of pulses has shown to significantly improve animal nutrition too, yielding better livestock, which in turns supports food security – a study in West Africa showed that animals fed cowpea hay, along with rice feed meal, during the dry season gain 95kg, compared to 62kg for animals that did not receive the cowpea fodder. The manure was also of improved quality and the study estimated that farmers which used cowpea fodder could benefit from an extra 50kg of meat a year and over 300kg of cereal grain from the improved soil quality. Pulses are locally adapted and can be grown by local farmers for their own nutrition as well as for sale, which is important to improve food security. They are highly accepted crops, which can keep well in storage. Pulses because of their role in improving sustainability, notably through soil management, also impact food security. Soil degradation is a major threat to food security in many areas. Africa is particularly impacted by soil degradation, yet pulses are part of traditional diets and often grown by small farmers. By improving the crop patterns using pulses, farmers can improve their yields and limit the long-term threat to food security that soil degradation represents.
· What are the main challenges that farmers in your country face with regard to the production of pulses? How should these be addressed?
Pulses are a source of income and nutrition for farmers. Pulses contribute to raising income of farmers around the world, both in developed and developing countries. Across the many different types of pulses, suitable varieties with potential for household consumption, livestock feed, soil building, or income generation can be identified for most agricultural systems. In many countries, pulses are cultivated by women. Pulses provide these women a nutritious food source, and provide an additional income source.
Pulse crops add diversity to crop production. Crop diversity decreases the risk farmers face from environmental and market fluctuations. Pulses increase the range of products a farmer can eat or sell. Pulses in intercrops can contribute to higher overall system productivity – including ‘overyielding’ through more efficient use of resources – and profitability. Adding pulses to a crop rotation can significantly boost cereal yield and grain quality by increasing plant-available nitrogen, disrupting pest and disease cycles, and improving soil nutrition and structure.
Adding pulse crops to a crop rotation improves a farm’s environmental stewardship. Nitrogen from pulse crops stays longer in the soil to boost production of other crops, while fertilizer-supplied nitrogen needs to be applied every year. Growing pulse crops in rotation with other crops enables the soil to support larger, more diverse populations of soil organisms, maintaining and improving soil fertility and suppressing pathogens. Pulses extract water from a shallower depth, leaving more water deep in the soil for the following year’s crop. This increases the water use efficiency of the entire crop rotation. To increase overall water use efficiency, producers can strategically combine cereal and other crops with pulses.
Here is an example of a farmer from my home country Turkey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq-z-8LCv2o
· Are you aware of any research or studies on the role of pulses in climate change adaptation or mitigation? Please share them with us.
Global pulse production will be affected by climate change. Pulse crop production will be increasingly affected by higher temperatures, drought, disease and pest pressure, and carbon dioxide concentration. Specific plant responses will vary in important ways and genetic variability within crops and wild relatives can facilitate breeding for climate change resilience. Many pulse crops are well adapted to semi-arid conditions globally and can tolerate drought stress better than most other crops.
To avoid yield loss or crop failure, producers can make use of natural variety among pulse crops in their response to environmental stresses. With increasingly volatile weather, farmers can adapt by choosing from a wide array of pulse varieties to match plant traits (e.g., water use efficiency, heat tolerance) to growing conditions (i.e., the right pulse in the right place). Under climate change, producers can adapt crop management practices (e.g., seeding date, fertilizer rate, variety selection) to suit available soil water, shifting weed populations, and soil fertility changes. In well-designed rotations with cereals, pulses may act as a ‘break crop’ that is protective against pest and disease damage, reducing need for pesticides.
· The International Year of Pulses also includes a call for recipes to provide ideas and inspiration on how to consume these nutritious seeds. Would you like to share yours?
The Global Pulse Confederation has collected hundreds of recipes on pulses.org. We invite all to use them and be creative with pulses. We also accept more recipes to be submitted by our visitors.
Sr. Huseyin Arslan