Hummus: as if you needed another reason to love it! Well, here’s another reason: as America’s love affair with the Middle Eastern dip grows, the humble chickpea is beginning to compete with tobacco as a profitable cash crop for farmers in the tobacco-growing region of the U.S.

In April, The Wall Street Journal reported a 25 percent increase in sales of “refrigerated flavored spreads” from 2010—that’s a category dominated by hummus. One of the largest manufacturers in the country, the (partly) Israeli-owned Sabra Dipping Co., is behind the push to grow more chickpeas. Right now most of their product comes from farms in the Pacific Northwest, but they’re looking to develop a separate crop close to their plant in Virginia to ensure supply (and, no doubt, keep things competitive). I mean, what would the N.F.L. do if their official dip supply ran out mid-season? Perish the thought!

As cigarette sales are rapidly declining (hurrah!), this video from Truth, an anti-smoking campaign directed at teens, prompts a totally relevant question: if we eat enough hummus, could we help put an end to smoking?

It’s actually not a crazy thought. Here’s our recipe. Eat up.

http://youtu.be/4WWFG0n58aw

Related: Sabra Trying to Pass ‘Hummus Bill’ in the U.S.
Make Your Own Hummus at Home With This Easy Recipe!

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The dip monolith Sabra has filed an 11-page petition with the FDA “to establish a standard of identity” for hummus in the United States.

In a statement released on May 19, the company stated that “hummus must be comprised (by weight, besides water) predominately of chickpeas, and must be no less than 5% tahini. Sabra defines hummus as, ‘the semisolid food prepared from mixing cooked, dehydrated, or dried chickpeas and tahini with one or more optional ingredients.'”

At first glance, the whole notion seems a bit outrageous—I mean, c’mon! Defining hummus? Ranking hummus? Does Sabra want to start WWIII?—but the FDA has standards of identity for a number of beloved food products, including peanut butter, white chocolate, and ice cream. SOIs are intended to protect the consumer, so that you know exactly what you’re buying when you’re doing your grocery shopping. (To wit: a lot of Italian olive oil is notoriously… well, not olive oil.) For people with allergies, established standards and clear labeling are especially important. And for hummus purists, there’s no offense more egregious than commercial ‘hummus’ spiked with dairy. (Reader, I tasted it.)

But on the other hand, as lawyer Debra Rade points out, standard setting is  “the most effective way of eliminating the competition… If you set a standard that a competitor cannot meet, it is no longer a competitor,” she explains. “You sell white bean hummus? After the standard is implemented, you don’t sell hummus. You sell white bean dip and that may not be placed in the hummus aisle.”

So Sabra is either doing a great service for the hummus mavens of America, or trying to edge out Tribe. Either way, you can still make your own chickpea dip at home—and you can call it whatever you want.

Image: Sabra

Related: If You Try To Take My Sabra Hummus, I Will Fight You
Recipe: Chick(pea) it to me—Easy Hummus to Make at Home

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Chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo beans, are those little flesh colored legumes that come in a Goya can. Sometimes they’re mashed into a creamy paste by Sabra—or some other inferior brand of hummus. At least that’s what I thought until tonight’s dinner.

I went over to a friend’s apartment to make supper, and along with fresh green beans, ripe tomatoes, and multiple bulbs of garlic, she whipped out a bowl of what looked like dried out raisins. “They’re heirloom chickpeas,” she said. “My sister got them for me.” WTF? On closer inspection these brown spheres did resemble a bean, but definitely not the plump spheres I occasionally tossed into green salads. But that’s just the thing about heirloom vegetables. Most of the vegetables found in supermarkets are bred (or genetically modified) to 1. look pretty 2. stand up to the long distances they travel from farm to table. Heirlooms are, as their name suggests, an older variety of a plant that has been largely knocked off the agricultural playing field. If you’ve ever wondered why heirloom tomatoes often look so ugly, it’s because they pre-date our cultural obsession for fat, uniform—and tasteless—produce.

According to Madhur Jaffery, author of the James Beard Award Winning World Vegetarian cookbook (and one of the fiercest foodies out there): “Chickpeas originated in ancient times, probably in the southern Caucasus region, helping to feed Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Armenia… The early chickpea was probably small and dark, and was eventually bred to be large and pale.”

These chickpeas were not gorgeous, but upon tasting one I was more than willing to overlook trivial things like surface beauty. My friend and I made fresh hummus, which resembled a black bean dip and literally made my night. Check out the recipe below.

Heirloom Hummus

(This recipe is very loosely based on Jaffrey’s “Bead Hummus.” Like a good bubbe’s recipe, the quantities are approximate. Just fuss around with it until it “looks right.”)

• 2 cups chickpeas (black or “kala chana” if you can find them—otherwise Goya will do the trick)
• 4-5 cloves garlic (whole, skins removed)
• 4-5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 sprigs fresh mint
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 3/4 teaspoon salt

Puree the chick peas and garlic cloves in a food processor until roughly chopped. Add all other ingredients and process again until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning, tahini, etc. until you reach the right consistency and flavor.

Image: Shutterstock

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