Hummus

Any international travel includes a food-based experience. It seems every
country has at least one food specialty and most have more than one. While I
had heard of hummus my first experience tasting it was in Isreal.

Some foods are claimed as a specialty of more than one country. Hummus is
one such food as it is a basic staple throughout the Middle East. It can be
eaten as part of breakfast, lunch, or dinner or as a snack. Israel and Lebanon
have traded the Guinness World Record for the largest dish of hummus with the
most recent winner being Lebanon in May 2010 with a recipe including eight tons
of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), two tons of tahini, two tons of lemon juice, and
150 pounds of olive oil.

For those unfamiliar with hummus, it is a dip or spread eaten as a side dish
or with pita, vegetables, or bread. It is also eaten as an appetizer.
Considered to be a healthy food due to high levels of dietary fiber, protein,
vitamin B6, manganese, and other nutrients hummus is part of many lifestyle
meal plans.

Before he was my son-in-law, Cedar, worked for a missionary group in Israel
for four years. During that time, he enjoyed a lot of hummus. It has been said
a bachelor who does not like hummus cannot survive in Israel. When he returned
to the United States, he was unable to find a hummus he liked.

Cedar and Jennifer experimented with and tweaked an almost endless list of
hummus recipes to find one he liked.  Below is the final result.

Hummus

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (or 2 cups cooked chickpeas)

2 cloves garlic, minced – optional

1/3 c. bean juice

¼ c tahini

2 tbsp. lemon juice

3 tbsp. olive oil

Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until
smooth and creamy.

Enjoy.