Grass pea, linked to lathyrism in British India, could provide food security when conventional crops are failing due to climate change
Photograph: Vibha Varshney I would have never tried grass pea, had an acquaintance not brought me some from her village in Jharkhand. The legume (Lathyrus sativus), also known as khesari dal in Hindi, lang in Marathi and laag in Gujarati, has been infamous for causing lathyrism, an irreversible neurological disease that leads to paralysis of lower limbs. But my acquaintance assured me that people in her village consume it regularly.
Traditionally, the legume, which resembles toor dal (pigeon pea), is consumed in the form of sattu, a protein-rich flour made from a mixture of pulses and cereals, added with wheat flour to make rotis and puris, or simply boiled to prepare a dal. On my acquaintance’s suggestion, I used the grass pea to make pakoris (fritters) and added them to a potato curry (see recipe).
The use of grass pea is common among the poor, since it is one of the cheapest legumes and grows easily in fallow fields, can be rotated with any crop and needs little to no investment. It is also tolerant to drought, salinity and water logging and resistant to pests and biotic stress. In terms of nutrition, grass pea has high levels of proteins, second only to soybean, and even has the compound L-homoarginine that is beneficial to heart health.
It was linked to lathyrism in the late 19th century. An outbreak of the disease was reported in 1833 in the Saugor Territories of present-day Madhya Pradesh, says a 1904 report by then Indian Medical Service officer Andrew Buchanan. The report notes that cases were recorded in some years of famine in the northern and central parts, when people depended exclusively on grass pea for food.
In 1961, India banned the sale and storage of grass pea under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, on the ground that its consumption is harmful to health. The ban was followed by all states except Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In 1964, researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, identified the culprit as a chemical in the seed, ß-N-oxalyl-L-a, ß-diaminopropionic acid (ß-ODAP).
Studies suggest that if the legume is consumed in large quantities (more than 40 per cent of caloric intake) for over three months during periods of malnutrition, a person could accumulate enough toxin to contract lathyrism.
However, the government did not ban cultivation as farmers said it was used as animal feed. Thus, human consumption continued too. According to traditional wisdom, soaking the legume for a few hours and then discarding the water could reduce the toxin by 80 to 90 per cent. With traditional consumption continuing, there have been long-standing demands to lift the ban. In 1966, the first variety with low ß-ODAP, Pusa 24, was released for cultivation. Several more low-toxin varieties have been launched since then. In 1994, a parliamentary standing committee on agriculture asked the Centre to speed up such development. In 1995, the government launched an All India Coordinated Research Project on MULLaRP (Mungbean, Urd-bean, Lentil, Lathyrus, Rajmash and Pea), under which the crops are promoted and high-yielding varieties are developed.
Based on these advancements, in 2015, an expert committee consisting of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and other stakeholders recommended that the ban be lifted. A year later, the government announced lifting of the ban, but there has been no formal notification so far. FSSAI in a notification in 2021 has only allowed incidental presence (2 per cent) of the legume in other grains.
It is time to decide the future of the legume, as it could provide food security when conventional crops are failing due to climate change. In the past three decades, there have been no cases of lathyrism that could be linked to consumption of grass pea, says a 2018 study published in the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice.
Scientists are working to aid research on improved varieties — in January 2023, researchers from National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, published genome of Pusa 24. In February, a team led by UK scientists published “an annotated draft genome assembly of grass pea for the identification and selection of traits for agronomic improvement.” Perhaps, a definite policy will help the grass pea restore its reputation.
RECIPE - DAL PAKORI SABJIIngredients
Method Soak the grass pea for four hours. Discard the water and grind it to a paste. Add the chopped onion, salt and green chillies to the paste; mix well. Heat oil in a pan and fry small portions of the paste till the pakoris are crisp. Keep them aside. In another pan, take two tablespoons of oil and add cumin seeds, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt; mix well. Add the chopped potatoes, mix and pour two cups of water (or more if needed). You can also add more onions, garlic and tomatoes to the gravy. Cover and let the potatoes cook till soft. Gently add the pa-koris to the gravy and the sabji is ready to be relished with rice or roti. |
This was first published in the 16-30 November, 2023 print edition of Down To Earth
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