That's right, no garlic

September 5, 2013 3:21 PM

I want to buy hummus without garlic but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I know I could make it, but I'd like to be able to buy it. I'm beginning to think it's even harder to find than oatmeal cookies without raisins or carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. Does anybody know if any company makes garlic-free hummus?
posted by Dansaman to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

I kinda think it's more like looking for carrot cake without carrots... Making it yourself may be the easiest.
posted by saradarlin at 3:24 PM on September 5, 2013 [20 favorites]

Maybe you'd have better luck looking for a "white bean spread"?

Do you have a hand-held blender stick or food processor? If not, the sticks are fantastic and make great spreads. Or get a tiny food processor, keep it on your countertop, and whip up a super fast garlic-free hummus!

You can also make up a big batch and freeze it in small portions.
posted by barnone at 3:41 PM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Garlic is one of the things that makes hummus bi tahina....hummus bi tahina. (Sesame/tahini, lemon, salt and chickpeas being the other necessary components.)

That said, I have found a couple of places that sell "plain hummus."

If you must...there you go.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 3:46 PM on September 5, 2013

I actually buy this kind of thing a lot and then just add my own garlic and lemon juice. so, if you wander into an east indian/persian/decent grocery store, they'll probably have canned hummus tahini, which is pretty good. there's a white can I like slightly more that I can't find a picture of online anywhere, but I'll memail you if I see it in a store in the next few days and remember the name.
posted by euphoria066 at 3:56 PM on September 5, 2013 [3 favorites]

It would just be called bean dip, when you are asking around.
posted by michellenoel at 5:25 PM on September 5, 2013

I was going to suggest exactly what euphoria066 suggested. Canned hummus, more often found in Middle Eastern/ethnic markets, but sometimes available in more diverse supermarkets, is usually barebones - chickpeas, tahini, salt, and lemon juice or citric acid (just enough for canning). It's much thicker than the ready-to-eat plastic tubs of hummus, but you can thin it and season to taste with lemon juice, more salt, olive oil, cumin, paprika, whatever.
posted by WasabiFlux at 5:37 PM on September 5, 2013

These folks make a variety of non-standard hummuses which have garlic as an ingredient but waaaaay down on the list of ingredients such that you can't taste it (especially their classic variety and their white bean variety). Not quite what you were looking for, I know, but close.
posted by jessamyn at 8:14 PM on September 5, 2013