The difference between chickpeas and garbanzo beans

chickpeas

Almost everywhere on the internet I see that garbanzo beans and chickpeas are the same thing. Here on Seasoned Advice I also see that the tag comes up when you type "garbanzo". So I guess they're considered the same here?

Today I came across this blog post which claims that garbanzo beans are large Mexican chickpeas, not regular chickpeas. So, is this claim correct and are garbanzo beans and chickpeas different in any way?

Best Answer

They're the same thing. About the only difference is that "garbanzo bean" is less common in British English than in American English, and chickpea is more common either way, but it's just a language thing.

There are indeed different varieties, with some smaller and some larger, but they don't have common language names like that.

Wikipedia mentions three varieties:

Desi, which has small, darker seeds and a rough coat, cultivated mostly in the India and much of the Indian Subcontinent, as well as Ethiopia, Mexico, and Iran.

Bombay (Bambai), which is also dark in colour but slightly larger in size than the Desi variety. They too are popular in the Indian Subcontinent.

Kabuli, associated with Kabul in Afghanistan. These are lighter coloured, with larger seeds and a smoother coat, mainly grown in Southern Europe, Northern Africa, South America and Indian Subcontinent, having been introduced during the 18th century to India.

Note that it says that one of the smaller varieties is commonly grown in Mexico, so the blog isn't really even quite correct to say "large Mexican chickpeas" (though I've certainly also seen large chickpeas from Mexican brands). I wouldn't lend too much authority to that blog post on that particular point. (A lot of the rest is subjective too, of course.)

Related Topic