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Pulses are the edible mature dried seeds of leguminous plants, members of the botanical family once known as Leguminosae but now called Fabaceae.
The best known pulses* in Europe are beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils. Of these, peas and fava beans have historically been grown in the UK; there is some history of lentils being grown and we're rebuilding production with a group of farmers; chickpeas are more challenging in the British climate but trials continue; other species of bean (those that at include varieties like navy, black, kidney and borlotti) are regularly trialled but close to impossible to grow at farm scale.
There are numerous other species that produce pulses including lupins, cowpeas, lablab, grass peas, butter beans and mung beans.
Why do we use the term "pulses" rather than "legumes"? Legumes are any plant of the Fabaceae family and the term can refer to the plant’s leaves, stems or pods, whereas pulses are only the mature dried seeds. So a fresh pea pod is a legume, but only the dried pea inside a fully mature pod is a pulse.
Pulses are more specifically only legume seeds that are edible and those with a high oil content are also excluded. So peanuts and soya beans, while dried leguminous seeds, are not strictly pulses.
Pulses are usually known by their common names, broadly correlating to different species. Peas are typically the seeds of Pisum sativum (the common or garden pea); lentils those of Lens culinaris; in Britain beans were originally just Vicia faba (the fava bean) but have also referred to Phaseolus vulgaris (common or haricot beans in their many varieties), Phaseolus coccineus (runner beans) and Phaseolus lunatus (butter or lima beans) since their introduction from the Americas.
But common names by their nature are used very loosely and often relate more to the shape and use than to strict botanical classification.
Peas (originally pease in English, a collective noun like grain) are round - or hemispherical when spilt - and typically cooked very soft, as in pease pudding or mushy peas. Beans are ovoid and more often keep their shape when cooked. Lentils are shaped like a disc or lens and best known as the main ingredient of dal.
Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) were originally known as chiche (from the Latin cicer), then chiche-pease by association with other peas/pease, before modern English settled on chickpea. But in America they're garbanzo beans.
Perhaps because of the great variety of beans, pulses in general are sometimes confusingly just called beans, especially in American English (probably because of the diversity of Phaseolus bean varieties in the Americas, as the location for their domestication). We know many British chefs who insist on renaming our carlin peas as "badger beans". Similarly any split pulses used for dal, such as split peas or split mung beans, are sometimes called lentils.
Pulses are delicious and a versatile ingredient, they're also highly nutritious. They're most widely thought of as an excellent plant-based source of protein, but to simply think of them in those terms is to overlook the dietary fibre, minerals and vitamins they contain and their status as a near complete food. Despite these benefits global pulse consumption per capita is much lower than the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's recommended levels, especially in the UK.
Pulses are not only good for us but also good for the environment. As nitrogen-fixing leguminous crops, they fix nitrogen from the air to provide much of the fertility they need to grow as well as often providing a nitrogen legacy for other crops. Pulses therefore reduce the need for carbon-intensive fertiliser while also requiring less water and land than other sources of protein.
Read more about the many benefits of pulses in our previous post Eat more beans! And peas, lentils, chickpeas…
Pulses have been among the world’s most important foods for more than 10,000 years. Since farming began in the Fertile Crescent, pulses have been grown and eaten with cereals, contributing essential fertility to the fields and providing valuable nutrition, the proteins in pulses complementing the amino acids found in wheat, barley and oats.
But many myths, misconceptions and uncertainties surround the cooking dried pulses. Do you add salt to the cooking liquid or not? Lid on or lid off? Why do people add bicarbonate of soda? Myths about cooking pulses are widespread, contradictory, and confusing.
In our continuing Pulses 101 series of posts, we'll explore different aspects of cooking with pulses. The truth is that cooking dried pulses is an easy and economical way to enjoy a huge range of delicious and nourishing dishes from cultures around the world. We should all eat more pulses!
*A classical footnote
So important were these four pulses to the Romans that each was used as a popular Roman name: Fabius (fava beans), Cicero (chickpeas), Piso (pea), Lentulus (lentil).
Hodmedod co-founder Josiah Meldrum describes how Hodmedod emerged from the question of whether we can reliably and sustainably feed ourselves.
Our new organic naked fava beans and yellow peas can be used just like split beans and peas - there are just a few intact whole pulses that will generally split in half when soaked and cooked. But why are some of our beans & peas now naked?
