Hummus without Tahini?

[Skibbs]

Wanting to dehydrate hummus for my next trip… I make it at home but includes quite a bit of tahini which has oil in it.  Is it ok to use this ingredient and be able to dehydrate it?  My current at-home recipe is:

2 cups Garbanzo Beans

1/3 cup Tahini

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

if I need to modify this to dehydrate well what would you recommend?  Thanks

[Matthew / BPL]

Not really what you are asking for but Alton Brown makes hummus with peanut butter. While I prefer tahini, it works pretty well. I wonder if you should use PB2 and then add a ton of olive oil to replace the missing fat.

Also, this stuff is delicious.

[Mario Caceres]

I have made my own hummus and dehydrated it at home.  My recipe is similar to yours and the oil in the tahini does not create any problem as long as you don’t make big batches.  Normally I dehydrate my meals prior to my trips.  The longest I have hold the DIY hummus was when I did the JMT a couple of years ago and had to mail my resupply boxes ahead of time.  Probably lasted a month between the time was made and the time I consumed the last batch.

[Nick Smolinske]

Tahini doesn’t have any water in it anyway, so I would just omit it, dry the fat-free hummus and add tahini in the field.  Remember: just because it’s liquid doesn’t mean it’s wet (also an Alton Brown quote).

For the same reason, PB2 + olive oil won’t save you any weight over just bringing the tahini.  It might be more convenient, but not any lighter.

I also think you could dry the hummus without tahini, store it with fresh tahini in the same ziplock (use a thick one), and add water in the field.  That would make it easier to use as opposed to carrying a separate container for tahini.

[Bill Giles]

I agree with leaving the tahini out and mixing it back in when you make the hummus. Tahini won’t dehydrate if it has no water to begin with. The only real question is how well the rest of the recipe will rehydrate and there is no real way to know short of trying it. You can also substitute lentils for the garbanzo beans if you want something a little different. The one thing that I don’t use in my dried foods is garlic, because garlic does go rancid. I don’t know whether roasting the garlic would make any difference in the shelf life. Roasted garlic is usually milder.

[Bill Giles]

Powdered peanut butter is a byproduct of making peanut oil and should be dirt cheap. It is available in bulk at a much lower price. I get No. 10 cans of powdered peanut butter and repackage it in plastic bags. I put a teaspoon or so in my oatmeal. I now have a mason jar vacuum sealer, so I can repackage and vacuum seal the PB powder in mason jars in the future. If I want to get some out, I just pop the lid on the mason jar and then reseal it.

[Bill Giles]

I looked at the Harmony Valley Classic Hummus and noticed that Amazon sells two versions. The original is $28.47 for a case of Six or 4.75 per pack. The Camp Cuisine Classic Hummus is $8.87 per 4.2 Oz. pack. Both require Olive oil and water to mix and should yield two cups of Hummus.

[Kentz Willis]

“I agree with leaving the tahini out and mixing it back in when you make the hummus.”   +1

I have also had the harmony valley hummus. My wife really likes it. I don’t like it quite as much but do think its good enough for camping/backpacking food if you’re too lazy to dry your own (like me).

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Camp Cuisine hummus + olive oil + True Lemon dehydrated lemon juice + sunflower kernels + freshly foraged wild onions on tortillas just south of McClure Meadow on the JMT with my 12 year old son last summer was easily the most enjoyable meal of my life. The company and location may have had something to do with it but the hummus was definitely solid. It is also good with cayenne pepper and crushed sesame sticks eaten with a spoon. Trust me.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Re: the garlic. How about packing garkuc powder or sprinkling it on the hummus after it is dehydrated?

[W I S N E R !]

My family is half Armenian so I can speak with a little bit of authority on hummus issues…  :)

We don’t use much tahini.  Of course it’s a personal taste thing, but my wife only uses about two tablespoons at most for 2 cups of garbanzos.  I’ve dehydrated our homemade hummus just fine; go light on the tahini, spread it thin in the dehydrator, and crush it a bit finer with a roller after dehydration and you should be good.  In my experience it re-hydrates well.

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