What is the difference between garbanzo beans and chickpeas?
Ah, that’s an easy one. There is no difference. Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing. They’re also called cece or ceci in Italy, kichererbse in Germany, and revithia in Greece. And they’re as versatile as they are healthful. The beige or cream-colored, round, irregularly shaped chickpeas are beans, similar to kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans black-eyed peas and split peas. In the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, you can count these legumes in either the vegetable or in the meat and beans group. If you generally eat anywhere from 1,600 to 2,400 calories a day, the guidelines suggest consuming 2.5 to three cups of legumes each week. At those calorie levels, a person should eat a total of two to three cups of vegetables a day and between five to 6.5 ounces of meat or beans a day. (A half-cup of chickpeas weighs just over four ounces.) Chickpeas are healthful, with a half-cup offering 140 calories, six grams of protein, five grams of fiber, 1.6 milligrams of iron, 200 milligrams o