‘Just one was enough to turn my middle-class worldview to dust’: tinned and jarred chickpeas, tasted and rated

This store-cupboard stalwart is versatile and healthy, but which did our reviewer rate – or hate?

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I’ve gone off script here and rated jarred chickpeas and tinned/packeted ones separately, because they’re such different beasts – and with a price point to reflect it. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by a few standouts in the tinned section, one of which is about to save me a fair amount of cash as I trade in my expensive jarred chickpea habit for a more frugal, but no less worthy alternative.

To taste these fairly, I drained and rinsed each one separately, labelled them up in bowls, then tasted them side by side. The ones I thought would benefit most from cooking each went into separate pans of malai sauce (albeit without cream) and were simmered, partially covered, for 25 minutes. The results were excellent in all but one case.

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