WEEKLY ARTICLE 

ALL HUMMUS IS NOT CREATED EQUAL

You may be wondering why you would want to order hummus from us, when you can buy it in almost any store.

There are just so many reasons.

First off, have you read the label on the store bought hummus??

It is a little shocking in most cases to say the least.

We never buy packaged hummus because we just can't get past the ingredient section on the label.

Hummus, and all foods, should have only necessary, productive ingredients. They should all be recognizable to you. No fillers, no preservatives, and no excessive flavorings, as that just confuses the dish and takes away from the pureness of its respective flavors. We want the full flavor of the fresh chickpeas to shine through, and not have it masked by an overuse of garlic, lemon, mustard, cumin, cilantro, paprika, mayonnaise, canola oil, and / or salt.

Speaking of salt, the quality of the salt used is very important. And of course it rarely says what kind of salt is used on the packaging. And yes, it may even say sea salt on the label on some rare occasions, but what kind of sea salt??? It could be a very low quality sea salt. Who knows?

Bad quality salt, uncooked salt, and too much salt are very damaging to the kidneys.

Herbs and condiments are fine. But really, only one or two should be used in any given dish so as to not create conflicting flavors or too busy of a dish. Some packaged hummus contains all of the above examples and even more! We think that the use of some of these strong seasonings should be your choice, and not a given. We LOVE a little fresh cilantro with our hummus for example, and you may too. But again, that should be your choice. You can always add to a dish. It is not so easy to remove though. Once an unhealthy ingredient, too much of an ingredient, or a low quality ingredient goes into a dish, the entire dish is a lost cause!!

And the chickpeas themselves. Our biggest question is: are they freshly cooked beans, or are they canned?? It is of vital importance to use freshly cooked beans as much as possible. Freshly cooked beans are highest in energy, vitality, and nutrients and are always preferable over canned beans.

Dried beans are tiny little storehouses of energy. They are just brimming with vital nutrients as evidenced by their ability to burst forth into full-fledged bean sprouts when germinated. A canned bean will never sprout. It is virtually lifeless. Yes, it still contains fiber, and protein, and a very diminished amount of vitamins and minerals, but it is completely devoid of live food energy.

We here at Wholly Macro want to eat hummus (and all beans) that have the ability to sprout forth and grow into living plants.

We want to eat food that is alive.

We want our hummus to sparkle with living food - life force energy, vitality, and flavor, and it does!

When we soak the beans they actually make crackling and popping noise as they expand, open, and come to life. It is so magical. And often times, when we complete the soaking process and prepare to cook them, they are already beginning to sprout!

We love seeing (and hearing) them come to life!

Quite often, we keep some of them on the side and allow them to fully sprout so that we can eat them as sprouts. We also do several sprouted bean (and grain) dishes on our menus as you may have noticed. All are sprouted in the Wholly Macro kitchen, and are so alive and fresh that they continue growing even when refrigerated!

Hummus is truly a culinary masterpiece, and a very popular one at that.

It is very versatile, lending itself to many fun methods of eating. It is delicious with cooked grains, in place of beans. We love it with fresh salads or cooked veggies, and speaking of sprouts, it makes a wonderful sandwich, piled high atop a quality whole grain based bread, and topped with fresh vegetables such as sprouts or watercress. And it has become very popular as a "fast food", which is fine, as long as it started with fresh beans and the purest of ingredients.

All hummus is not created equal, which is why we like to offer the Wholly Macro version from time to time.

We have included our hummus recipe for you. You can try making it yourself if you like, or at least you can see and compare our ingredients to the various store bought versions.

Wholly Macro's Chick Pea Hummus With Dulse

Ingredients:

 4 cups cooked chickpeas, cook with a 1/4 inch piece of kombu      sea vegetable, drained. (save liquid) (see basic bean recipe  below)

2 teaspoons sweet white or yellow miso, added to beans at end of  cooking and simmered for 5-7 minutes

3 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 teaspoon umeboshi paste

1 tablespoon umeboshi vinegar or to taste

1 clove garlic - optional

Place all ingredients in food processor, adding small amounts of drained liquid, until a smooth puree is formed. Or, for a coarser hummus, mash all ingredients with a manual potato masher or suribachi.

Garnish with chopped parsley, roasted pine nuts, fresh cilantro, and / or dulse flakes.

Ingredients:

One cup dry beans

4 cups spring water for soaking and cooking the beans

� teaspoon sea salt or miso

1 one inch piece of kombu sea vegetable - rinsed

Preparation:

Rinse the beans several times, removing stones or other foreign objects.

Soak the beans for 8 - 12 hours in spring water.

Using the remaining soaking water, add the beans and water to a pressure cooker.

Bring beans to a low boil with lid open.

Using a strainer, skim foam off of beans, repeating several times until there is a minimal amount of foam.

Add the piece of kombu.

Close lid, and pressure cook on medium to low heat for 45 minutes.

Wait for the pressure to go down.

Open the lid and add the salt or miso

For the salt: simmer for another 15 minutes with lid off, until remaining water cooks off.  For the miso: simmer with lid off until excess liquid cooks off, then add the miso and simmer for an additional 5 minutes on very low heat.

Garnish with parsley, scallions, or chives before serving.