The chick pea or garbanzo bean has long been a staple of the Mediterranean diet. In addition to some notable hummus innovation that has happened in the past several years, this legume that’s packed with protein, fiber, iron, vitamin B-6, and many other nutrients, has proved its versatility as a featured ingredient in packaged snacks, gourmet dishes, and yes, even beverages. This nutrient-dense, vegan-friendly, gluten free gem is poised to be the next hot ingredient in snacks and the main ingredient in plant-based milk alternatives. Before you decide how to incorporate chick peas into your next product offering, here’s a landscape of some of the most compelling chick pea innovations you should know about:

Hummus:

• This dip has gone sweet with flavors like vanilla bean, snickerdoodle, choc-o-mint and brownie batter by Delighted By.
• Brightly colored and healthful flavors like carrot-ginger-turmeric, beetroot-horseradish-sage, herby-hummus, banana-peanut butter-cocoa and banana-avocado-cacao by ChicP.
• Even more Mediterranean inspired hummus flavors, including organic caramelized onion and Kalamata hummus, by Cava.

Snacks & Packaged Goods:

• Hippeas – these organic chickpea puffs come in bold flavors like sriracha sunshine, far out fajita, and pepper power, and we expect more flavors (and likely products) to come, as this brand recently raised $10M in a round of funding. In addition to the several good for you claims (packed with fiber, low in calories, baked not fried), the back of their bag tells consumers that for every bag sold, they donate to Farm Africa.
• Banza – simply put, Banza is pasta from chickpeas, in a variety of shapes. A 2oz. serving has 14g of protein, 30% the DV of iron and 8g of dietary fiber. As of October 2017, the brand has grown 40% YOY in Whole Foods Market stores.

Chick Pea +

• Yo Fiit – this plant-based & non-dairy beverage from Canadian-based company contains 10g of protein and 1000 mg of Omega 3s per serving.
• Aquafaba – this ingredient is the liquid that chickpeas have been cooked in and historically has been discarded. Sir Kensington uses it in their vegan mayonnaise substitute.

We predict an increase in the use of chickpeas in product formulations, especially because many consumers are not intaking the daily fiber recommendation, and chickpeas can offer a delicious and convenient way to do so. Interested in developing a chickpea beverage? thedrinktank@imbibeinc.com