Chickpea Flour

A finely ground pale yellow flour milled from dried chickpeas. It tastes nutty and slightly sweet with a faint earthy aroma; it absorbs water readily, binds batters, and browns well in frying or baking. Cooks use it for crispy fritter batters, gluten-free baking, flatbreads like socca and panelle, and as a thickener; it’s sold as regular or roasted besan.

Chickpeas were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent and the flour spread through South Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Indian cuisines rely on besan for snacks and sweets, while regions of Italy and France developed chickpea flatbreads that traveled widely through trade and migration.