Hummus (or houmous, hommos, hommus, hummos… it's kind of like Hanukkah) is something I always have on hand. Usually it's a store-bought variety. Since there are so many varieties in the cold case, I decided to sit down and really compare them. Then I whipped up my own batch to see if the little extra trouble was worth it.
From the grocery store, we have:
- Tribe All Natural Hummus (Ingredients: chickpeas, lemon juice, sesame tahini, canola oil, sea salt, natural flavor, spices)
- Sabra Hummus Solo with Whole Seasoned Chickpeas (Ingredients: chickpeas, tahini, soy bean and/or canola oil, water, garlic, salt, citric acid, spices, seasoning, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate to preserve freshness)
- Nature’s Gifts' “dill hummos” – Nature's Gifts is a natural foods store near me; this looked homemade. (Ingredients: chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, dill)
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After mutilating these hummuses with baby carrots and toasted pita bread, I thought The Tribe All Natural Hummus had the best flavor and would please a crowd. However the dill in the Nature’s Gifts hummus added a pleasant little zing. I also preferred its slightly chunkier less processed texture. If you want to hear your party guests coo "ooh what's in that?" (and who doesn't) find yourself some dill hummus.
Although I enjoyed the whole chickpeas on top of the Sabra, it was the blandest, too creamy and a bit sweet. Basically, it was kind of gross and I wanted to stop eating it after my second bite. (Notice that this was the only one with preservatives.) I suspected my homemade hummus would be far superior to the grocery-store variety. I was so right.