There's a new king in supermarket Hummus in the US and it's... ( Drum roll) ... Holy Hummus.
WOWA WEEWA it is good.
I bought it randomly in the supermarket in LA, one day when they ran out of the other bigger brands I tend to buy.
There's nothing very special or inviting in their packaging. It looks like all the other generic supermarket Hummus brands -but wait till you taste it...
AAAAMAZING!
They have 4 flavors: Homestyle Hummus with olive oil, Jersualem with Tehina , Nazareth and Classic.
They're all really good.
The best in my opinion is their Homestyle Hummus which has lots of chickpeas and feels coarse and fresh like restaurant hummus in the middle east.
Their second best in my opinion is Jerusalem Hummus which is much creamier and also excellent.
Their last 2 flavors are Nazarath and Classic. Two flavors that are still really good and no one will ever complain about - well no one except those that already tasted their Homestyle Hummus.
The main difference between the four Hummus isn't that much the taste but rather the texture. While the Homestyle seems to be the coarsest, the Nazareth somewhat coarse and the Classic the creamiest.
For those who love creamy rather than coarse - you will find everything you are looking for in the Classic.
TASTE:
The hardest thing in making supermarket hummus is figuring out how to ensure it doesn't have that "plastic" aftertaste of preservatives and other ingredients which make it feel somewhat generic.
Some of the Hummus companies place a lot of garlic or garlic flavoring that hides the fake aftertaste,
while others simply place more focus on texture than on taste.
To get additional flavors that taste a bit different and don't have the same aftertaste and garliccy flavor - some larger supermarket chains have started experimenting in recent years in distributing creamed veggies made from other ingredients not chickpeas yet still call it Hummus - even thought hummus based on my understanding has to be made from chickpeas.
It's like calling a butter made from Cauliflower - PEANUT BUTTER - knowing people prefer butter made from peanuts over butter made from Cauliflower.
Maybe Cauliflower cream is interesting - but peanut butter should be made from peanuts or it's false advertising.
Hummus is made from Hummus - i.e. chickpeas in Arabic and Hebrew.
Because of Covid 19 - a lot of restaurants have closed and many people prefer buying supermarket hummus that feels safer and has less potential for Covid 19.
That's why it's super important to choose the right one.
It seems that Holy Hummus is still a small label and isn't available in many supermarkets and even in the ones it is available it tends to run out very quick as it's possible the word on the street has already spread about the uniqueness of this tasty hummus.
I purchased this hummus first time at the Israeli supermarket - Samy Makolet on Fairfax blvd in Los Angeles, CA . Sammy Makolet is one of the most famous specializing Israeli supermarkets and I understood it's also sold in the other famous Israeli supermarkets in LA.
Samy Makolet also tend to run out of it quite fast and I had to follow up to figure out when they get more supply to purchase more of it.
From the Holy Hummus website it seems it's a NY based company so they might already be available to purchase all over the nation or at least in large cities from LA to NY.
Because of Covid 19 - I couldn't do blind tests with friends - but I did recommend they all purchase it and let me know their thoughts and they did - and they were all blown away by the taste that is quite unique for a supermarket hummus.
Bottom line - I hope with Covid 19 and the fact many people aren't shopping in smaller supermarkets only buying from large retailers like Costco, Amazon, Whole Food, Krogers etc ... that people will still discover this new company that is still mostly sold in smaller supermarkets and is mostly sold out.
Unlike the large Hummus brands - that tend to occupy the majority of the Hummus Fridge even in smaller specialized markets - this Hummus tends to hide in the corner.
If not for Covid and shortage of supplies - I probably would've never discovered this brand myself and stuck to the large brands I know.
I also hope this brand slowly make their way into the larger retail chains - cause their taste - is ready for the mainstream spotlight .
But as they make it to the larger retailers - I hope they will not compromise their unique and unbelievable flavor that tastes as good as many restaurants and will help educate Americans to the real taste of Middle Eastern Hummus.
Their website:
http://www.holyhummus.com/
Enjoy...
