The season for gungo peas

The gungo pea or pigeon pea is popular this time of year and upstages red peas or red kidney beans in the rice and peas. Vendors in the market on Christmas Eve were holding out on very high prices as they knew that for most people, Christmas dinner would not be the same without the gungo. Many persons have learnt some safe strategies to combat these high prices over the years, such as:

1. Plant your own and hope it is ready for Christmas.

2. Buy green gungo out of season and freeze it. I did this last year and used my frozen gungo during Christmas. I will restock as the prices fall. You can also dry and store gungo but this will require a little bit more attention than freezing the green ones.

3. Use the canned option, which is not bad, just remember not to add salt to your pot if you use the saline water in which it is preserved.

Nutrition facts

Apart from being tasty and a great addition to many dishes or as a main ingredient in its own right, gungo is also nutritious. Green gungo has high water content and so weight for weight has fewer nutrients than dried gungo. About 100 grams, or a little as about three ounces of dried gungo contains 22 grams of protein, compared to seven grams in the green gungo.

The fat content is low at approximately two grams; its carbohydrate content is significant at 63 grams for the dried and 24 grams for the green, highlighting one of the benefits of legumes as an austerity food, as they are rich in two macro-nutrients. Gungo contains other important micro-nutrients such as significant amounts of calcium, potassium, and folacin.

Benefiting from the protein in gungo as a substitute to meat requires consuming adequate amounts. Three ounces are equivalent to one ounce of protein in meat or fish. If you are unable to consume large amounts of legumes, the benefits can still be realised. You can save some money on purchasing animal protein by buying less, and combining small amounts with gungo this month and beyond as the glut continues.

Stew with leftovers

These are some recommended tasty uses: rice and peas; pelau; stew with leftovers (ham, lamb, turkey or other roasted meats); gungo soup with ham bone or any other meats used during Christmas (roast beef, lamb); gungo and codfish and I have not tried this one, but I was told that gungo and sardine is great.

For the children who refuse to eat peas, rub gungo through a seive to remove the outer membrane and mix it into their soups or other dishes; introduce it to them in small amounts. Plant one or two roots of gungo, if possible, this year.

Rosalee M. Brown is a registered dietitian/nutritionist who operates Integrated Nutrition and Health Services; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.