The Pregnant Chickpea

Appears in
On the Hummus Route
On the Hummus Route

By Ariel Rosenthal, Orly Peli-Bronshtein and Dan Alexander

Published 2019

  • About
Fresh chickpeas in the pod have a short and fertile season
In the springtime, small, inflated pods replace the flowers that cover chickpea plants. Sometimes, a single seed develops inside each pod, sometimes a pair. The green seeds look exactly like the more familiar dried yellow chickpeas, but the taste is fresher. The season lasts until around mid-May to June, around the holy days of Shavuot and Pentecost, and the demand for them seems to decrease with every passing year.

In the alleyways of the Old City of Jerusalem, fire-roasted chickpea pods called hawisi are sold in paper cones, which is probably the best way to enjoy them. Vendors used to sell them in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda Market, where they were known as hamla malana, which translates to “full term pregnancy,” referring to the round pods heavy with delicious green chickpeas.