Hommus Hummus How do you carry it?

“I noticed on the "Why is my pack so heavy" thread, in Sarbar1's photo that there was hummus in little triangular packages. I have been carrying hummus only in the cooler months because of fear of spoilage.

Question: How do you carry hummus and where do you get it in those little packages?”

“World Market has it in the little triangular tubes. There's dehydrated brands of hummus too, so you can just mix it up as you need it.”

“If you are concerned about weight just buy the dried hummus. It's lightweight, rehydrates rapidly and won't spoil on the backpacking trip. For dayhikes I just package my own homemade hummus in small round Nalgene containers. I'm going to try drying my own hummus soon.”

“I'll check World Market.

I've tried the dried hummus. What I got was barely palatable. What brands do you recommend?

Could you dry store-bought hummus?”

“I don't see why you couldn't dry store bought hummus. I make my own hummus and am going to try drying it. I've tried the Fanastic Foods dried hummus and didn't think it was bad. I've given some to friends and they didn't complain so I guess it's okay. I'll try drying some hummus soon and report back on this thread and let you know how it came out.”

“Thanks.
I'm very interested in knowing how the drying comes out.

I have a dehydrator (it is drying tomatoes right now) and might have to try it myself.

Also, a hummus recipe would help. I might try to make my own.”

“Let me dig out the recipe I use and I'll post it here.”

“BS, sarbar has some info on her site about drying chick peas and making her own hummus.

I wish I could find those little triangular tubes of hummus here but so far no one carries them”

“In the past, I have just stuffed store-bought hummus in one of those Couligan's Food Tubes. But that is only good for cooler weather (I guess). I have a 6 day/80 mile trip coming up in October and need to cut my weight. So, I will probably try the dried stuff. I'm not sure about the weight savings as you still have to carry olive oil for the remix. If I dried my own, would I need to carry olive oil to reconstitute it?”

“Here's the hummus recipe I use. I got it from a vegan cookbook.

1 12 ounce can of chick-peas drained
water
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tahini

Place chickpeas in food processor, add enough water to make a spreadable consistency and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add lemon, garlic and tahini and puree until smooth.

I don't think you need to carry olive oil if you dry your own.”

“I know they refridgerate the stuff, but I am not sure it spoils that easily. I took soem store-bought hummus on a four dayer in the Sierra this summer and while it got down into the high 40s, low 50s at night, it was in the 70s-80s during the day and the stuff was going strong four days into the hike.

I guess it could go off, but I've never seen it happen. I imagine in the warmer climes, it could be an issue.”

“i've never tested it but i'd imagine hummus has a pretty high tolerance against spoilage...there's really nothing in it that would truly "spoil"...plus if you added a little salt that'd help too”

“The only thing in it that might get rancid is the tahini. It's ground up sesame seeds so it has a lot of oil in it and has to be refrigerated. I've only kept prepared hummus on a dayhike so I don't have any experience carrying it other than dried beyond that amount of time.”

“i would think it would be best to dry the peas and then rehydrate and assemble the hummus in the field. there is so much fat in hummus that i would think it would not dehydrate well. you can get lemon juice powder, by the way. i bought a large bottle of it. it's basically just flavored citric acid but it works well.

sarbar's web site would have "the answer" to this imho...”

“oil's take quite a while to go rancid, especially if they're fresh”

“interesting

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2005/techprogram/paper_29044.htm”

“That is interesting and probably similar to studies to find what works best to preserve other foods sitting on store shelves.”

“i had no idea it went bad so fast...everything i'm reading online says 3-4 days and that's WITH refrigeration...that's for the home made stuff, not the store bought”

“I didn't know that either, but one batch of homemade hummus made with one can of chickpeas doesn't make all that much. It's better to make it in small batches. The garlic flavor starts getting weaker after the first day.”

“Hey guys, if you make hummus at home, don't add the olive oil till you are ready to eat it. Add it on the trail!

I dry my own humus often, because I can make it low in sodium. Really easy to do. My basic recipe is:
Couple cans of Garbanzo beans, rinsed well.

I toss them in the food processor with a couple Tbsp of lemon juice, oregano and chili powder to taste, maybe some dried onion. Till it tastes good.

I add water if needed so I can get it to paste. Then I dry it on lined trays.

I do a 1:1 ratio of dry product to water, and add in a splash of olive oil.

The tubes are Hummus To Go. The brand that makes them also comes in glass jars in grocery stores. I like the brand as it doesn't have anything bad in it (no preservatives).

The tubes are shelf stable as well.

Heavier they are, but very nice for backpacking. I have only seem them at Cost Plus World Market, but they are on the companies website.

Btw, beans are something to not mess with for proper storage. Good breeding grounds for spoilage!”

“Thanks for the recipe (and info), I'll try it.

It sounds like the dry method is the safest.”

“Where's the Cayenne Pepper? I like my Hummus hot! Fresh Red Hot Chili peppers thrown into the food processor adds some nice flavor.
last edited: 8/29/07 7:01:05 PM”

“You can add just about any seasoning. Some brands of store bought hummus have basil in them. I use less lemon in mine because too much acid bothers me.
last edited: 8/29/07 7:17:32 PM”

“what sarbar said about the beans. Oil too. There are no preservatives so that sheeite's gonna break down quickly.”

“I add whatever I crave to my homemade hummus btw...so sometimes I have diced olives, other times roasted red bell peppers, sometimes curry powder.
Hey go to town with it :-D Garbanzo beans are pretty tasteless, so season away!”

“I buy hummus powder mix in bulk at Henry's Farmers Market (owned by Wild Oats Markets):
http://www.henrysmarkets.com/h/find/

Mix with lukewarm water when ready to eat and add some olive oil (I carry in a small plastic bottle). Yummy!

Goes great on tortillas. Add some hot sauce, dried tomatoes, and maybe even some tuna for a great snack.”

“Normally I carry it as far away from me as I can get. LOL!”

“My Fave recipe:

In food processor till smooth:

12oz can Garbanzo's
Juice from 1 lemon
2 cloves carlic chopped
1 1/2 tbsp EVOO

Then add:

1/3 cup jalapeno with seeds removed

Process another minute or so.

Serve with additional olive oil poured into hollowed out center (Kinda like mashd taters and gravy) garnished with italian parsley (chopped)”

“1/3 cup jalapeno with seeds removed

jackstraw
1:23:02 PM
8/30/0


wimp ;)”

“Didn't make it to pack....but it sure is good this afternoon for a snack!

1 can garbanzo beans
2 TB oil (infused with red cayenne peppers)
2 TB lemon juice
1 tsp fresh basil
3 TB sun dried tomatoes
5 cloves garlic (baked)

Pureed in the processor....mmmmmmmm”

“man that sounds good.”

“chili that would be so easy to dehydrate for trips... I love hummus”

“make it minus the oil. then rehydrate it and add the oil back in.”

“I think that would be the way to do it, yogisan. I would also leave out the lemon juice. The little handi packs of lemon juice would work just fine on the trail. I have found them at KFC over near the iced tea.

It shouldn't take long to dehydrate and I imagine it would be very crumbly when dried. It wouldn't take much water to rehydrate and then you would want to blend the oil and lemon juice in well.”

“i find with hummus you have to keep the lemon juice in so that it doesn't bind up in the food processor... and yes - add the oil in on the trail”

“Thanks.”

“chili - just made your recipe - it's really good”

“I have been buying it at the store and have now figured I can make it myself for less than half the cost of buying it and it's better.”

“the fun thing about making it at home is that you can experiment with all sorts of flavor combinations too”

“is there someway to make half way decent hummus without a food processor?”

“You could try mashing up the beans as best you can and stirring it around a lot. Maybe press it through a ricer if you have one. I haven't tried it that way so I don't know how well it would work.”

“Blender might work.”

“the sell dehydrated. it's not bad.”

“Pita bread, cut in pie slices..dribbled with chili oil, some greek seasoning, toasted in a 350 deg oven...smear with hummus and wah la!”

“krogers sell a dried variety in the healty section. Add what you wish! Yo bear”

“I added roasted red pepper...mmmmm...topped with hot sauce...”