We love hummus! Love isn’t a strong enough word to describe our feelings for this creamy, smooth, delicious dip. It is healthy, protein-rich and vegan. So everyone can enjoy it.
Also known as the garbanzo bean, the legume is a great source of protein, fiber, potassium, vitamin C and iron among other things. Which is why it has gained popularity in the vegan and vegetarian communities, so much so that there is an International Hummus Day celebrated worldwide today (May 13).
There are thousands of recipes on-line for all kinds of dips, but we love the original! Creamy, rich and loaded with tahini and extra virgin olive oil. Some pine nuts sprinkled on top and it is just the perfect side dish. Throw in some fresh warm bread and it becomes its own main course.
While we are partial to the basic recipe, we can be adventurous! And are totally cool with different additions and twists on hummus. We love Babel’s version. It has pesto and walnuts in it. Which kicks it up a notch without butchering the essence of the dip. We are not food snobs. Change the spices. Add some pureed sweet potato or beets for color. Or even mix in with different nuts.
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But some people just can’t let a good thing be. Someone had to come along and invent dessert hummus! We have zero problem with there being a sweet dip that uses chickpeas, just please, for the love everything holy, do not call it hummus. Because it just isn’t. It is a chickpea-based desert. It is like calling pizza an open faced sandwich.
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Dessert hummus just feels like an oxymoron. Although we do like pretzels with hummus, the crunch works well with the dip.
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Salted caramel belongs in the ice cream aisle, not in the Middle Eastern food section. Let’s keep it that way. Innovation and creativity is one thing, but this has just gone too far!
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And while we are at it. If it is still savory, but you take out the chickpeas, it is not hummus anymore either. It is called hummus because it is made from hummus (the Arabic word for chickpeas)! Like jam for example, if it doesn’t have strawberries you just can’t call it strawberry jam anymore.
Lentils, carrots, black beans? Just call it a sriracha carrot dip. No need to bring hummus to this game. Yes we know your marketing department told you that hummus is hot right now, but we are not fooled.
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We checked the ingredients. No chickpeas!!
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Hummus, we love you, and will fight the world for making sure this nonsense stops.
Happy International Hummus Day!
