Comments on: Hummus producers

Question: Hummus producers

yoyo_nyc — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:21:30 -0800

Is there a list of Hummus producers in the US? I know only Sabra.com and would appreciate if somebody could post some other brands.

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:26:06 -0800

I get Tribe brand hummus from my deli. The package lists http://www.tribehummu.com a their site.

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:29:10 -0800

Crap. There should be an "s" at the end of that URL above. My girlfriend's keyboard is at the end of its rope.

By: holgate

holgate — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:30:51 -0800

Big supermarket brands: Tribe , Athenos. Smaller hippie-grocery brand: Bobbi's.

By: amarynth

amarynth — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:33:04 -0800

Athenos makes hummus, as does Cedar's. Trader Joe's also has a store brand hummus.

By: Smilla's Sense of Snark

Smilla's Sense of Snark — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:40:38 -0800

Also there's Manischewitz which has both a dry hummus mix and a canned hummus.

Doesn't Whole ~~Paycheck~~ Foods have their own store-brand fresh hummus, too?

By: fourstar

fourstar — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:48:47 -0800

Tom's Tabooley is distributed in and around Austin ... not exactly a national brand.

hummus is one of things that is so quick and simple to make it seems a little silly to buy

By: contraption

contraption — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:04:59 -0800

Haig's Delicacies makes the best store-bought hummus I've ever tasted, but I'm not sure how far from San Francisco they distribute (I live in Santa Cruz and buy it at a local hippie store.)

hummus is one of things that is so quick and simple to make it seems a little silly to buy

fourstar, you need to 1) give me your recipe or, more likely 2) try some real hummus.

By: rkent

rkent — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:06:23 -0800

Yeah, a lot of the good stuff is regional, I'm not a fan of any of the national ones (although I haven't had manischewitz). Are you in NYC as your handle suggests? If so, just scour the local Mediterranean delis; if not, give us a hint so folks in your region can make suggestions.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:20:20 -0800

Wildwood's is decent.

I don't know who makes Trader Joe's house brand but it's delicious. My favorite. And I've been eating the stuff homemade all my life.

By: yoyo_nyc

yoyo_nyc — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:21:33 -0800

@ RKENT

Yes, I am in NYC. But I am interested in a broad overview over the US Hummus producers. Best Yoyo

By: amarynth

amarynth — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:32:55 -0800

EatingWell magazine latest issue has a hummus taste test. They said their test was limited to the best and most widely available brands, and they rated Sabra, Tribe, Cedar's, Emerald Valley and Joseph's.

By: nj_subgenius

nj_subgenius — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:33:34 -0800

Here also.

By: whimsicalnymph

whimsicalnymph — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:35:30 -0800

Trader Joe's brand of hummus is quite tasty.

By: Methylviolet

Methylviolet — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:41:37 -0800

The black-bean hummus I get at my local farmer's market is fantabulous. I bet most farmer's markets have a hummus guy.

Alternately:

3/4 lb. very soft cooked chickpeas (kala chana makes good hummus too) and the cooking water. Don't use canned beans for this.

1/2 c tahine
5-6 cloves garlic (you could roast the garlic if you wanted)
1-3 lemons
salt
paprika
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2-3 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro

Put most of the cooked beans, tahine, garlic, one lemon's worth of juice, a dash or two of paprika and 1 tsp salt in the blender. Add enough of the cooking water to make it blend. Blend. Add more lemon juice, salt or cooking water until it tastes good to you. Stir in the reserved beans (you could blend them all, but I like lumpy hummus). Put it in a bowl, and drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the cilantro on top.

I don't know if this is "real" hummus, but it is very easy.

By: tastybrains

tastybrains — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:41:56 -0800

So is Cedar's.

By: kmennie

kmennie — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:03:33 -0800

'Fantastic Foods' hummus-in-a-box...

By: contraption

contraption — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:10:40 -0800

Methylviolet: I've tried that sort of recipe before with limited success, but it still seems to be missing something that I can't identify. Maybe I'm not using the right tahini or something? I had the good fortune to grow up with a little old Armenian lady as a family friend, and the stuff she made was magical: very smooth, tangy, and addictive in that undefinable way. I've only tasted similar in a few restaurants, and out of the tub from Haig's.

I've heard it said that you can attain a smoother texture by removing the skins after cooking, but I've never found specific intructions. Anyway, my definition of an easy recipe doesn't include anything that needs to soak overnight and then get the blender dirty, so maybe I'm just lazier than most.

When I mentioned "real" hummus, I was comparing it to easy recipes more along the lines of:

-dump a can of garbanzos in a bowl, along with a couple tablespoons of tahini, a lot of olive oil and some lemon juice

-moosh up and eat

Lots of people say they don't like hummus, because that's what they think it is, and that makes me sad. I guess that makes me a hummus snob, which I think I can live with.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:16:19 -0800

OK, if you are really in NYC this must be some kind of joke because withing ten minutes of most NYC locations one could probably find at least a dozen if not more brands of hummus.

By: Ike_Arumba

Ike_Arumba — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:20:14 -0800

IMO, the brand you mentioned originally, Sabra, is all you need to know. Sabra is the bomb; utter creamy goodness. Blows away all other commercially available hummus that I've tried. NB: you pay for that goodness in slightly higher calories and fat.

By: gimonca

gimonca — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:16:27 -0800

Twin Cities area shoppers can get Holy Land hummus in several varieties.

By: suedehead

suedehead — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 18:08:56 -0800

This doesn't help with your original question, but if you're in New York, please please pleeease go to Hummus Place. They deliver around a 10-block radius, and you can pick up as well. Fantastic!

By: wildeepdotorg

wildeepdotorg — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 18:15:36 -0800

Also bear in mind that Lebanese, Armenian, Greek, Turkish, Syrian, etc. hummuses vary slightly. As a Greek, I make mine far more lemony and garlicky than the store bought/Lebanese restaurant stuff tends to be. That's a difference I can live with, because I know what I'm getting when I make it.

Incidentally, I use canned chick peas for mine and it turns out fine. If the "balance" is off, often a little bit of water (I use the chick pea juice from the can) needs to be added to the hummus.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:37:00 -0800

gee, i wonder where that 'g' came from

By: !Jim

!Jim — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:00:54 -0800

I've tried that sort of recipe before with limited success, but it still seems to be missing something that I can't identify.

I know exactly what you mean. There is 1 restaurant around here with amazing hummus. I follow people's recipes online and it comes out like crap. One thing I have found though (and this is probably really obvious) is that many recipes online don't have enough water to get a delicious creamy texture. I still can't get the taste right at home though.

By: dilettante

dilettante — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:17:05 -0800

I've heard it said that you can attain a smoother texture by removing the skins after cooking, but I've never found specific intructions.

Take a cooked chickpea, and squeeze it a little. It should (start to) shoot out of the skin. It's pretty time-consuming, but I think almost all commercial hummus must be from peeled chickpeas.

By: Duck_Lips

Duck_Lips — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:14:03 -0800

There are a few other brands even in NYC.. like Yorgo's,, but who cares.. SABRA really is the best by far, unless you've been to the hummus place restaurantwhere it is all hummus all the time.

And btw, is it pronouced WHO-Moose? or humm-us?

By: Izzmeister

Izzmeister — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:52:18 -0800

in Jewish/Israeli neighborhood supermarkets (like borough park, Monsey, flatbush, to name some NY area ones) there are several brands of (c)hummus and te(c)hina - companis such as flaums, schwartz appetizing, golden taste, and many others.

By: Izzmeister

Izzmeister — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:54:28 -0800

williamsburgh would actually be closest to NYC... try any kosher supermarket or grocery there for a selection of brands. (Lee avenue at the BQE overpass is the main shopping center)

By: caution live frogs

caution live frogs — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 09:03:19 -0800

My wife and I like the Tribe hummus - the natural varieties are pretty good, and don't have anything in the ingredients list that is at all off-putting. We especially like the 40 Spices and Chipotle flavors, but we're both into spicy stuff, so YMMV.