The Power of Pulses

Many readers may be puzzled by the term “pulses” in this book The Power of Pulses. It is an agricultural/gardening term while cooks know these better by the name legumes. This book by D. Jason, H. Malone, and A.M. Eathorne is mostly a gardening book as well as a reference book on pulses. Nearly one half of the book is on information and history of pulses, planting the seeds, caring for the plants, harvesting and storing. The remainder is a collection of some fifty vegetarian or vegan recipes using legumes. The authors have chosen five of the most commonly known pulses for the detailed discussions for the gardeners and for the recipe collection: dry peas, beans, chickpeas, fava beans, and lentils. The recipes are for a limited number of cooks: vegetarians and vegans mostly. The recipes are good but not exceptional and inconsistent in use of legumes (some use cups of dry legumes others cups of cooked ones, no conversion given). Recipe layout is unfortunate as for many you’ll be leafing back and forth to overleaf pages to follow instructions. We have many photo illustrations, some good quality, but many are not in focus and poorly shot.