Along with all the usual green peas, chickpeas, or as it is also called "mutton peas", has long enjoyed a well-deserved honor and respect. It is thanks to this unpretentious and inconspicuous plant in bad years, whole countries were saved from starvation. Today, chickpeas are used not only as an excellent source of vegetable protein, vitamins and microelements, but also as a way to enrich the soil with nitrogen. As you can see, this tasty and useful mutton peas can benefit not only the person, but also the land on which it grows.
What is the difference between chick peas and peas?
Like common peas, chickpeas belong to the family of legumes, just as they form beans with seeds contained within. In contrast to peas, chickpea beans contain no more than 3 seeds, each of which has an angular-round shape. Although the height of the shoots chickpeas can reach almost 60 cm, but they do not curl and lie, but remain erect. Its maturity reaches 80-120 days after planting, giving a simultaneous simultaneous harvest, which greatly facilitates its collection.
Nut - useful properties
Small, angular chickpeas are a kind of record for the content of useful elements - they contain vitamins C, B1 and B2, nicotinic and pantothenic acids, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, as well as a substance important to the human brain, such as selenium. As you know, selenium is simply necessary for a person for normal mental activity and a calm emotional background. Along with the high content of all usefulness, the seeds of chickpea are also distinguished by a pleasant oily taste, which makes it possible to cook a lot of tasty and healthy dishes out of it. Traditionally, chickpeas are cooked with gruel, with it poultry and meat are extinguished, and also used as fillings for pies.
I could not help but notice the chickpea and folk medicine. To increase the defenses of the body and get rid of chronic fatigue use the following recipe: a handful of chickpeas should be filled with water and left overnight. In the morning, surplus water drained, and swollen chickpeas eat for three meals a day for half an hour before meals. If you can not eat raw chickpeas, you can cook it in large quantities of water until ready. Repeating this simple procedure daily for 21 days, you can significantly improve your health.
Pea chickpeas - cultivation
To ensure that the chickpea crop is abundant and high quality, it is very important to observe the following conditions:
- The bed chosen for planting chickpeas must be carefully loosened and cleaned from the roots of weeds and plant precursors. The more carefully this operation is done, the better the harvest will turn out. In no case is it worthwhile to plant chickpeas in the ground where the roots of other plants have remained - this will lead to the fact that the chickpeas grow weak and will not give a full yield.
- If the soil on the selected site is acidic, then it must be preliminarily lime.
- It is best to plant chickpeas in the ground in late April-early May, when the temperature of the soil will be no lower than + 6-8 ° C. Seeds before sowing must necessarily be sorted out, leaving only the largest and healthy, and then treated with an antifungal agent.
- The depth to which the seeds of chickpea descend into the soil depends on how moist the soil is on the selected bed. On fertile well-moistened areas, the chickpea should be buried 8-10 cm, and on rarely watered - at 14-16 cm.
- Plant the chickpeas in rows, stacking the grains every 10 cm and leaving the rows between 30-35 cm. Then the beds with chickpeas are gently tamped. Provided that the seeds are fixed to the same depth, they will germinate and yield a crop at the same time.
- Fertilize and spray from pests chickpeas do not need. The only thing he needs is regular watering and removal of weeds from the bed, with simultaneous loosening of the soil.