More about legumes
What's a legume?
The Danish Food Authority recommends 100 g of legumes a day — and for good reason. Legumes aren’t just climate-friendly and packed with nutrients — they can also work wonders in the kitchen 👨🏼🍳
On this page, you’ll find answers to the most common questions about legumes: What are they good for? How do we prepare them? How can we add more flavour to our meals with legumes?
Read on and get inspired to dive into the wonderful world of legumes.
Why legumes?
We’ve been cultivating legumes in the Nordic region since the Bronze Age, with peas playing a big role both in agriculture and on our plates (you’ve probably heard of the dish “yellow peas”) up until the mid-1800s. After that, cereal and potato farming took over, and legumes gradually fell out of favour.
Now legumes are making a comeback — and for good reason. Not only are legumes climate-friendly crops, but most of them are also rich in protein and dietary fibre. Although legumes might seem a bit dull at first glance, it’s all about unlocking their potential to absorb flavours and add body and texture to everyday meals.
Know your legume
Flavour, preparation and serving tips
Ingrid peas, whole
FLAVOUR: Sweet, slightly bitter with pea-like notes. Firm texture, doesn’t easily break down when cooking.
PREPARATION:
With soaking: Soak the peas for 10–12 hours. Then boil for 30 minutes.
Without soaking: Boil the peas for 1 to 1.5 hours.
If adding peas to soups or stews, soaking is not necessary.
The peas should have a slight bite without being hard.
GOOD FOR: Ingrid peas are ideal for dips and falafel, or as a filling in salads, soups, or casseroles.
Ingrid peas, split
FLAVOUR: Sweet, slightly bitter with pea-like notes. Since the skin is removed, split Ingrid peas cook more easily than whole ones.
PREPARATION:
With soaking: Soak the peas for 8–10 hours. Boil for 10–15 minutes.
Without soaking: Boil the peas for 25–30 minutes.
If adding peas to soups or stews, soaking is not necessary.
GOOD FOR: Danish organic split Ingrid peas are ideal for hummus and as a filling in soups and casseroles.
Fuego beans
FLAVOUR: Bitter and umami. The flour cooks down easily.
PREPARATION:
Soaking: At least 10–12 hours.
Cooking: 30 minutes.
GOOD FOR: Split Fuego beans are perfect as a filling for bread, tacos, and casseroles, or they can be used in plant-based patties and hummus.
Anicia lentils
FLAVOUR: Lightly spiced with notes of fresh peas and pepper. Holds its shape well and doesn’t break down when cooked.
PREPARATION: No soaking required. Rinse and cook for 20–25 minutes.
GOOD FOR: Anicia lentils are ideal as a filling for salads, bread, pasta, and tacos, or as a topping for dishes such as soup and risotto.
TIP #1 COOK LARGE BATCHES AT ONCE
By cooking large batches of legumes at once, you can save yourself lots of time. For example, boil a whole bag of Ingrid peas and freeze some of them. That way, you’ll always have peas ready whenever the craving for hummus strikes at short notice.
Taste the legumes
Flavour is absolutely essential when learning to work with legumes. Although legumes themselves are quite mild in taste, their special superpower is that they’re excellent at absorbing flavours during cooking 🦸♂️
Since most legumes require cooking, it makes perfect sense to add flavour to the cooking water — for example, with herbs, spices, or vegetables. Legumes are particularly good at soaking up flavours when heated.
That’s also why legumes work so well in slow-cooked dishes, where they have plenty of time to absorb the flavours of the other ingredients.
Flour from legumes
Let’s start with a disclaimer: Gluten-free flour isn’t just for those with gluten allergies 💡 You can also use gluten-free flour in your baking when you want to try new flavours.
DAVA’s gluten-free flour, made from lentils and beans, is high in protein and dietary fibre.
This flour is ideal for baking, where you should replace 10–30% of your regular flour with legume flour. You can also use legume flour to bake entirely gluten-free. Pea and lentil flour also work well as a binder in plant-based patties or as a thickener for soups and sauces.
Adding this protein-rich flour to your dishes helps increase and maintain a feeling of fullness for longer.
If you want more knowledge, tips, and inspiring recipes, have a look at our inspiration booklet 🍪🥙
Know your flavour
Flavour, preparation and serving tips
Anicia lentil flour
FLAVOUR: Lentil flour has a mild, nutty flavour.
PREPARATION: Replace up to 25% of your regular flour with lentil flour in baking mixes for best results.
GOOD FOR: Anicia lentil flour is suitable for baking bread, rolls, pastry dough, and cakes. Lentil flour also works well as a binder in dishes such as vegetable patties, and in a variety of baked goods—from crispbread to cakes.
Ingrid pea flour
FLAVOUR: Pea flour has a mild taste of peas and nuts.
PREPARATION: Replace up to 25% of regular flour with pea flour in your baking mixes for the best results.
GOOD FOR: Gluten-free legume flours are suitable for biscuits, waffles, crispbread, and pancakes, as well as for thickening sauces and soups, and as a binder in plant-based patties.
