By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Pigeon peas (kidis- Kankanaey; kardis – Bontoc; kadyos – Tagalog) is a perennial legume and common in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. It easily grows in the Philippines even in the poor soil in our garden and is drought-resistant. It is generous with its pods.
By the way, a legume refers to any plant that bears fruit inside a pod. It is any plant from the Fabaceae or Leguminosae botanical family. So a legume would include the leaves, stems and pods. Pulses are edible seeds of the legume plant like beans and peas. What is the difference between peas and beans? Peas are generally round in shape while beans have more varied shapes. Peas are mostly green especially when immature and yellowish/brownish when mature. Beans come in more varied colors – black, white, red, peckled, green, etc. Kardis is a pea.
Although kardis is so abundant, even all year round, it is the world’s least-used pulse crop. People would rather buy green peas, mungo, white beans , black beans or red beans. Which is a pity because kardis is packed with macro and micronutrients. According to food analysis, 100 grams mature kardis contains:
22 grams protein
63 grams carbohydrates
1.5 grams fat (good fat as this is vegetable fat)
0 as in zero clolesterol.
Vitamin B complex
Calcium
Iron
Other vitamins and minerals .
So you can have kardis every meal. Some friends related, though, that eating mature kardis continuously would make you smell like kardis – your sweat and urine would exude the kardis smell. Well, if you are “nauma” with kardis, this makes good animal feed. Even the dry leaves and pods can be used as animal feed.
An interesting research by Belete Kuraz Abebe, The Dietary Use of Pigeon Pea for Human and Animal Diets (Scientific World Journal, Jan 24, 2022), enumerated the many uses of pigeon peas aside from its mature seeds, as follows: 1) germinated seeds can be eaten raw or cooked; 2) dhal can be cooked in many ways;3) green seeds; 4) fresh pods can be cooked and used as salad.
This study also cited therapeutic uses of its leaves, seeds and roots. Leaves, seeds and roots contain saponins that have the ability to reduce blood cholesterol. Leaves have antimicrobial properties and are also used to lower blood sugar.
Kardis is such a wonderful plant – easy to plant and maintain, very prolific and is food as well as medicine.***
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“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all..” (Psalm 104:24a)
