I was scrolling mindlessly through Facebook last week and I saw a post about making meringues from the slime chickpeas are canned in.

I was sceptical to say the least.

So I drained a can of chickpeas and was thoroughly disgusted by the discovery that the liquid chickpeas are canned in is kind of...snot-like. A lot snot-like.

I followed the recipe exactly, except for the whipping time. The recipe says it will take about 15 minutes for stiff peaks to form but I had them after 8 minutes. The pictures show the chickpea slime at 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 8 minutes whipping. I was worried about over whipping so I continued with the rest of the recipe at 8 minutes instead of whipping for the full 15. It could have something to do with humidity and your specific location? I don't know. #science

I piped the meringue into nests because I wanted to fill them with berries and cream, the same way I would if using meringue made with egg whites. The chickpea slime meringues puffed up noticeably, much more than I remember egg white meringues ever doing (but I make meringues maybe once a year so this isn't a reliable statement).

The chickpea meringues are interesting. They don't taste like chickpeas at all. They're very similar to egg white meringues but they're not exact. The texture is off. They're airier and a bit dusty. They're just weird. You'd never guess they were made from chickpea slime but I wouldn't go out of my way to make them for anything apart from the appeal of making something from liquid that's normally just poured down the drain.