Kim > wrote in
news
> On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 11:24:21 -0500, Steve Wertz
> > wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:48:44 GMT, Rhonda Anderson
> wrote:
>>
>>>I think the guy on the radio was wrong. Everything I've ever seen
>>>indicates that garbanzo beans and chickpeas are just two different
>>>names for the one legume (Cicer arietinum).
>>
>>I've seen the smaller chick peas, kalla chanas, referred to as
>>chick peas, while garbanzos are the larger ones. I only buy the
>>kalla chana legumes rather than the larger more common version -
>>less mealy IMO, and thinner skins.
>>
>>-sw
>
> Yes thank you for that info. The Spanish tripe recipe I am hoping to
> make is called Kalla Tripe, but calls for garbanzos beans. It may be
> that some of these things have different names in different countries?
>

Yep - garbanzo is the Spanish/Latin American term according to what I've
read, chickpea is the English term,ceci is Italian and I believe chana is
the Hindi word. There are two different groups of chickpeas - which are
the same species, but markedly different. The small coloured (brown,
black) chickpease are known as "desi" in India, and kala chana belong to
this group. The other group, kabuli chana, are the larger yellow/cream
chickpea which is also called garbanzo bean. (Found some interesting info
on desi etc. on this site http://www.mendosa.com/chanadal.html - the
agronomic etc. info is a fair way down the page)

If you did want to look for garbanzo beans in Australia you'd have to
look for chickpeas as I have never seen the term garbanzo used here. If
you went to an Indian/Asian grocery store you would probably be able to
find the kala chana - the smaller coloured ones. You did mention that you
didn't like chickpeas - do you like any legumes? If so, perhaps you could
try using another bean in place of the chickpeas.

I like chickpeas, but have not tried the "desi" type. I'll have to hunt
some out and try them.

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia