Garbanzo Beans

2009 CHEFSBEST® AWARD FOR BEST TASTE WINNER

Claim Language: The ChefsBest Award for Best Taste is awarded to the brand rated highest overall among leading brands by independent professional chefs.

Bush’s

What Makes Great Garbanzo Beans?

Also called chickpeas, garbanzo beans are featured in recipes ranging from Middle Eastern cuisine to Indian food to salads and soups. An excellent source of protein, fiber and minerals, garbanzo beans are also known to lower cholesterol levels.

Our chefs define high-quality garbanzo beans as having a tan color that displays some richness or saturation of pigment. The individual beans in a can should be mostly whole, and the size of the beans is not as important as its uniformity. In other words, all the beans in a can should be the same size no matter how big or small. Garbanzo beans should have a faint aroma with no metallic off notes from their packaging.

Optimal taste balance is achieved when sweetness is about half of the sweetness in a sweet potato. A very low level of saltiness should balance the beans’ natural sweetness, and there should be no sour notes. Bitterness, if present, should be very hard to detect.

When the beans are heated, their flavor intensity should intensify. Delivering notes such as earthiness, natural sweetness and the richness of high-quality legumes, garbanzo beans should have a somewhat complex flavor character. There should be no inappropriate off notes from processing, packaging or unwholesome ingredients.

The firm texture of the beans should be uniform throughout. The beans should retain enough hydration to avoid any hardness, but they should not be moist enough to become mushy. The beans are expected to deliver a high level of creaminess when eaten, though they will not be as creamy as black beans or red pinto beans. When rinsed in water and served at ambient temperature, the beans’ creaminess should be only slightly lower than when served heated.

Product Category Definition

The product judged was defined as canned ingredint garbanzo beans for the consumer market, not including other ingredient beans (including black, pinto and kidney beans), dried beans, refried beans, baked beans or certified organic products.