Sarvodaya CHS Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Horse Gram which is also known as “Kulath” is a very popular gram used commonly in food recipes in the northern part of India. This lesser known gram world over has a bounty of benefits, that many of us stay deprived, owing to lack of awareness and knowledge about the gram. This gram is generally used as a cattle feed. The plant of Horse gram is known to have antioxidant and diuretic action and be found to be extremely useful and recommended by doctors in the treatment of haemorrhoids, diarrhoea and haemorrhage. The gram is further beneficial in cases of bleeding during pregnancy, menstrual disorders, colic and weak liver, spleen enlargement, leucorrhoea, hypertension, kidney stones, gall stones and many other serious health concerns. This gram is rich in B-complex vitamins and protein, and is highly delicious for the taste buds and nutritious as well.

Black gram is mainly cultivated in Indian subcontinent. Black lentil is nothing but the split black gram and after removing black skin it is sold as white lentil. In India Black gram is popular as “Urad dal” and it is highly prized pulse among all the pulses.

The chickpeas, also known as a garbanzo bean, ceci bean, sanagalu, chana, hummus and Bengal gram has an interesting fact behind its name. It’s called Chickpea because it looks like baby chick. This pulse is estimated to be at least 7,500 years old and was originally cultivated at Mesopotamia and The eastern Mediterranean. Currently, it is grown in India, Middle East and various parts of Africa. This highly nutritious pulse is ranked third in the important list of the food legumes that are cultivated throughout the world. Chickpeas have mainly two types i.e. Desi and Kabuli. Seeding of Chickpeas can be done into standing or tilted stubble and fallow. Kabuli chickpeas are planted when soil temperature at a depth of 2 inches to 3 inches reaches at least 10ºC while Desi types are planted in soil that is 4 ºC or above to reduce soil-burn diseases. Chickpea is an annual crop, cultivated in cool season. Fertile sandy & loam soil in various parts of India provide perfect condition for Chickpea growth. Indian weather conditions of 21 ºC to 26 ºC daytime temperatures and 17 ºC to 21 ºC night temperatures also favor this crop. Chickpeas have deep tap root system so they can endure drought conditions by extracting water from deeper soil. Maturing time require for Chickpeas is 120 days.