Showing Food Pigeon pea
| General Information | |||||||||||
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| Name | Pigeon pea | ||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Cajanus cajan | ||||||||||
| Description | Pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan, is a perennial legume native to India, where it has been domesticated for at least 3,500 years. It is widely consumed in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America, serving as a major source of protein in these regions. The culinary uses of pigeon pea include dried peas, flour, or green vegetable peas, often combined with cereals to make a well-balanced human food. The color of pigeon pea varies from green to yellow to brown, with a mild, nutty taste and a slightly sweet odor. Rich in protein and essential amino acids like methionine, lysine, and tryptophan, pigeon pea offers several health benefits (PMID: 31032823). The most notable chemical in pigeon pea is protein (PMID: 12049149). Besides its food value, pigeon pea has medicinal uses, particularly in traditional Indian medicine. A peculiar mode of preparation involves sprouting the dried peas briefly before cooking to enhance digestibility and flavor. | ||||||||||
| Primary ID | FOOD00037 | ||||||||||
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| Classification | |||||||||||
| Group | Pulses | ||||||||||
| Sub-Group | Peas | ||||||||||
| Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Superkingdom | Eukaryota | ||||||||||
| Kingdom | Viridiplantae | ||||||||||
| Phylum | Streptophyta | ||||||||||
| Class | Magnoliopsida | ||||||||||
| Order | Fabales | ||||||||||
| Family | Fabaceae | ||||||||||
| Genus | Cajanus | ||||||||||
| Species | cajan | ||||||||||
| Variety | Not Available | ||||||||||
| External Links | |||||||||||
| ITIS ID | 26516 | ||||||||||
| Wikipedia ID | Pigeon pea | ||||||||||
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| References | |||||||||||
| Content Reference | — Duke, James. 'Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. United States Department of Agriculture.' Agricultural Research Service, Accessed April 27 (2004). — U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2008. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page. — Rothwell JA, Pérez-Jiménez J, Neveu V, Medina-Ramon A, M'Hiri N, Garcia Lobato P, Manach C, Knox K, Eisner R, Wishart D, Scalbert A. (2013) Phenol-Explorer 3.0: a major update of the Phenol-Explorer database to incorporate data on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content. Database, 10.1093/database/bat070. — Shinbo, Y., et al. 'KNApSAcK: a comprehensive species-metabolite relationship database.' Plant Metabolomics. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2006. 165-181. | ||||||||||