Not All Chickpeas Are the Same

Melissa King Advice

The other day, while at Target, I quickly picked up a can of chickpeas without reading the label.  Usually, I use dried beans, but chickpeas take the longest to soften.  So this time, I opted for canned beans.  I really should have looked at the label.  Here is the Target brand and the Sprouts brand (which was actually cheaper and organic.)

chickpeas

So now let’s look at the back.  The first one is the Target brand.

chickpeas 2

Disodium EDTA is an additive that is also found in laundry detergent.  Sodium Metabisulfite is an additve that is used as a preservative.  There are some potential dangers listed if this is ingested.  You can read about those here.  So, this may not be the best product to buy.  Let’s look at Sprout’s brand.

chickpeas 1

This looks much better.  Not only is it organic, but it has ingredients that we can all recognize.  This would be a better option to buy.  God bless my husband, who picks up the slack.  HE was actually the one that pointed out my error!  I guess I have trained him well. 🙂  This post just goes to show that all labels should be read.  Even simple products like chickpeas!

 

Subscribe
Join more than 35,000 subscribers and start gettiing free recipes direct to your inbox!

You may also like

7 Gross Ingredients You Have Probably Eaten
Healthy 4th of July Ideas
Green Blender – Fall in Love with Your Healt...
A Breakdown of Sweeteners

29 thoughts to “Not All Chickpeas Are the Same”

  1. Laundry soap, really? I read something the other day that the McDonald's McRib has an ingredient also used in yoga mats. I can't believe it's legal to feed that crap to people! Great post! We don't have a Target but I'll definitely be more mindful of the bean labels from now. You just never know...
    Reply
          1. FoodBabe has a really funny video about it: http://foodbabe.com/2013/09/23/are-you-eating-this-ingredient-banned-all-over-the-world/
    2. I am not sure which is sadder - the fact that this stuff is in food or that you DON'T have a Target! ;) I buy those garbanzo beans all the time...note to self to get them at Sprouts from now on!!
      Reply
    1. I didn't know until just now that BPA is in cans. Evidently, Eden's canned chickpeas are BPA free. Theirs should be the kind to buy if you must buy cnned.
      Reply
      1. BPA would be in the can's inner lining, so it wouldn't be listed in the ingredients. If you open the can and the inside looks just metallic, there is no liner that could contain BPA. If the inside is coated with white plastic, that lining *may* contain BPA, or not.
        Reply
  3. One thing you can do to avoid cans, is cook the beans ahead and freeze them in portions in their cooking water. They thaw out just fine for use in most recipes (especially if you plan to puree them anyway). I never buy beans canned because they are so much cheaper dry, and I hate the salty flavor of canned stuff.
    Reply
    1. Thank you Elizabeth! That is a fantastic idea! I never realized that you can freeze the beans in the cooking water. I will try that from now on. All other beans I buy dried. Chickpeas are just stubborn litte suckers to soften.
      Reply
  4. While I wholeheartedly agree with you that we must closely read all ingredient labels, and disodium EDTA isn't something I want to eat, your argument against it (it's an additive also found in laundry detergent) falls a little flat. Water and salt are also chemicals, and also ingredients in laundry detergent. Just because a chemical is used for a non-food purpose does not necessarily mean it is harmful to ingest.
    Reply
    1. I probably should have clarified my thought on the matter. Here is a link I am providing that states, although it is relatively safe, there have been some studies to show that disodium EDTA can cause problems with reproductive systems and fertility. Personally, I don't think there has been enough testing done on the matter for me to feel safe ingesting it. Furthermore, Sprouts was able to produce a similar product without the use of disodium EDTA. So really, it is not needed. http://www.truthinaging.com/ingredients/disodium-edta
      Reply
  6. MIGHT BE A DUMB QUESTION, BUT I ALWAYS WONDER, IF THE ITEM SAYS IT HAS ONLY CHICKPEAS, WATER AND SEA SALT, HOW DO THEY STAY OKAY TO EAT IN THE CAN? IF I LEAVE CHICKPEAS IN A CONTAINER IN MY FRIDGE OR PANTRY, THEY'LL GO BAD EVENTUALLY?? JUST WONDERING, ANYONE?
    Reply
    1. They most likely vacuum seal the cans so no air gets in. Pretty much the same principle as canning fruit in your house works. Also, salt is a natural preservative, so that will help it stay okay for longer.
      Reply
  7. I usually buy the Eden canned beans but was at Target and picked up a couple cans of the beans you pictured. I threw them into a salad and had terrible stomach pains all night. It was only later that I read the ingredients on the can and was shocked. I am pretty brand loyal and have gotten out of the habit of checking a label. Never again! So horrible
    Reply
  8. Uber creepy what is hiding in food all the time. I always buy canned chickpeas for the same reason you so although, I never ever thought of reading the label as why would there be anything else in there but the beans, water, salt ... (ignorance is bliss, not really). Then someone mentioned the yoga mat McRib and I semi doubted it, so I looked up a few articles. A snippet from this article that you can read is: "According to an article from Chicago magazine, which cites a 1995 article by Mandigo, "restructured meat product" contains a mixture of tripe, heart, and scalded stomach, which is then mixed with salt and water to extract proteins from the muscle. The proteins bind all the pork trimmings together so that it can be re-molded into any specific shape — in this case, a fake slab of ribs. " http://finance.yahoo.com/news/11-amazing-facts-about-the-mcdonald-s-mcrib-170212930.html
    Reply
    1. I had heard about the yoga mat thing too, although never in that much detail. That is very disturbing. How can people eat that crap?
      Reply
  9. I've noticed how specifically the Target brands have tons of unidentifiable ingredients, like how the other day, me and my dad picked up some wraps made by Target, and the wraps contained 50 or 60 (cant remember) ingredients!
    Reply
  10. Funny, I just noticed the exact same thing yesterday while shopping for garbanzo beans! The organic ones were also 20 cents cheaper...score! Good thing I'm a label reader. Now I'm making some hummus .
    Reply
  11. Pingback: Lire les étiquettes – Recettes sans glutamate monosodique (MSG)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *