Ruth Reichl's on Making a Better Hummus. I have seen the light! Oh my...SO creamy.

Do you think a food mill would remove the skins? Seems like a lot of water >>

is being wasted when you skin them by hand.

 
I bought 25 lbs. of organic garbanzo beans from the co-op last year.

I was unable to use them all, so I froze them in the raw state. I recently thawed them out and started making hummus again for the FM, and this is the creamiest batch of hummus I have ever made. I don't know if it has something to do with the quality of the beans or the freezing of them. Any ideas?

 
I've done CI's method for creamy hummus, and it was good. To my taste...

...hummus with a little less creaminess is still very good, and a lot less TROUBLE.

Call my tastes 'pedestrian', but if you make hummus with dried chickpeas and use otherwise fresh ingredients, I'm happy.

Michael

 
Have to tell you that our best hummuses (new word -plural for hummus!!) are not very creamy but

somewhat coarse. Of course, the good ones are always made with dried beans.

 
My first morning in Tel Aviv...my first breakfast..an entire TABLE filled with different hummusssss

Another table with fresh breads...another table with cheeses...another table with veggies.

I thought I'd died and gone to Jerusalem.

Of course, little did I realize...that was the day I joined our tour group and--thereafter--was served bland AMERICAN food.

Boo. Hiss.

 
Yes, freezing helps denature the fibers--like when you thaw meat and there's

excess moisture pooling at the bottom.

My friend is a pastry chef and noticed the same issue. She had previously used frozen berries for her coulis and at a new resto, used fresh. She had consistency issues and later learned it was because freezing helped break down the cellular structure.

I had hummus made from fresh garbanzos with Paula Wolfert last week. I had no idea they were green! Very good.

 
Interesting. I'm a big fan of foods from Israel and hope to get there in the next year or so.

 
Try freezing the dried chickpeas, Michael, it is and amazing difference

with little or no effort other than sticking them in the freezer.

 
Notes from Paula Wolfert

More than a dozen years ago, I did a story on the 'search for the best hummus' in Israel and discovered the expression 'let's go wipe.' It referred to using a piece of pita bread to wipe up the delectable chickpea and tahini dip that Israelis have adopted as their absolute favorite snack. Israeli food writers argued endlessly about such matters as whether in a proper hummus the chickpeas must be peeled, baking soda in the soak necessary, or the tahini refrigerated. So, when I returned home in side by side tests the peeled chickpeas produced a better flavor and color. The baking soda is necessary for hard water soaking. And the tahini is best mixed with flavorings before adding the chickpeas. Try it and let me know, but please use home cooked chickpeas, not canned!

here are two ways that Mediterranean women peel chickpeas:
Place soaked chickpeas in a deep bowl. Gently rub chickpeas against one another under water, then remove the peels as they float to the top; or place a handful of soaked , partially cooked and drained chickpeas between 2 rough towels and rub and roll them around until the skins roll off.

On another note, tahini has excellent antioxidant qualities, it has a long shelf life. Turn the jar upside down from time to time to keep the oil from separating. Once you make up a batch of hummus , it loses these keeping qualities and needs to be refrigerated.

Another tip I learned back then, instead of just scooping some tahini from a jar and using it straight, try mixing the tahini with a little lemon juice and garlic until it is white and 'tight,' then loosen with cold water before adding some of the chickpea cooking liquid, thechickpeas, and the seasoning. The final hummus will be lighter and creamier. If you let it rest and mellow for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature it will only be better.

 
Notes from Naomi Duguid

(Commenting on the baking soda above, which I've learned is used if you have hard water)

I don't use baking soda, because I have lake water here in Toronto...and I hate the taste. EVen rinsing doesn't completely get rid of it. It's all about how much time they take to cook. If you have a processor you can soak chickpeas, then do a rough pulse or two to break them, then cook them in less water; it's a way of getting them cooked more quickly; or use a pressure cooker as people do in India.

(On taking the skins off) Just rub them between your palms and any skins that come loose are a bonus.

 
I'm with you. I always thought mine was lovely without going to that much trouble.

You can also make it with chickpea flour - supposedly a lot of restaurants do this and it makes it smoother, but I didn't think it tasted as fresh. Also, if you buy chickpeas in a natural market where they turn over fast they don't take long to cook at all.

 
I get mine at an Asian grocer in Chandler that has a middle eastern section. I see a lot of...

...people shopping there for the various ethnic cuisines, so I've always been relatively confident of getting fresh dried chickpeas. (Fresh, dried. Isn't that contradictory?).

I've never used the flour. I am comfortable with the dried whole chickepeas.

Michael

 
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