AUSTIN, Texas (May 13, 2014) – There’s a new green superstar on the Whole Foods Market salad bar, and it’s not kale!  This year, green garbanzo beans (also known as green chickpeas) have taken center stage in the company’s prepared foods departments from coast to coast, starring in the popular Health Starts Here Green Garbanzo Crunch Salad, in falafel and on their own for shoppers to add to their favorite salad bar creations.

These non-GMO Project Verified garbanzos are more nutritious than their blond counterpart, with double the fiber and nearly double the protein. Green garbanzo beans are simply a normal garbanzo bean harvested while immature and still in its live green state, full of moisture and color. They are then rushed from the field to be washed, blanched and flash frozen, locking in the natural moisture, color, nutrition and flavor.  

Grown on small family farms in the Pacific Northwest by Fresh Nature Foods, the green garbanzo beans destined for Whole Foods Market stores are harvested without the use of insecticides, supporting sustainable agriculture practices.

As a result the popularity of the green garbanzo beans at Whole Foods Market throughout March and April, Fresh Nature Foods announced a $10,000 donation to the Whole Planet Foundation, which works to alleviate poverty in developing countries. Fresh Nature Foods will make another donation to the Foundation at the end of the year based on the number of cases sold to the grocer.