BEST SUPERMARKET HUMMUS 2020 - HOLY HUMMUS!

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...

Tribe Hummus Looking To Woo Consumers By Appealing To Dislike Of Mass-Produced Food ( From Huffington Post)

And now the Huffington Post has a report about Hummus - which is moving into mainstream food culture faster than anyone expected.

Here's the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/08/tribe-hummus_n_3726376.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D355925

And here's the full story:

Eleazar David MelendezBecome a fan

Eleazar.Melendez@huffingtonpost.com

Tribe Hummus Looking To Woo Consumers By Appealing To Dislike Of Mass-Produced Food

Ask the chief executive of Tribe Mediterranean Foods to describe his company’s hummus factory, and he’ll gush for a full five minutes that make a cold production floor sound like a warm wonderland of chickpeas.

As Tribe CEO Adam Carr recently described it to The Huffington Post, after the legumes used to make his company’s hummus are trucked in from the West Coast, they're not just soaked overnight in giant tubs, but are also tenderized -- a veritable “chickpea spa” with “chickpea pamperers.”

“We then move our tender chickpeas into the caring hands of the flavor matchmakers,” Carr continued, explaining those people don’t necessarily follow a strict recipe but vary the ratio of sesame seed paste, oil and spices needed to make hummus depending on the season.

Quality control testers at the end of the factory line, or “seasoned spicers” in Carr’s words, then test every batch of hummus, consuming up to three-quarters of a tub each workday.

“Obviously, they use a new spoon every time,” Carr said.

There is a strategy behind how Carr speaks of Tribe’s Taunton, Mass.-plant as if he's a modern-day Willy Wonka of hummus. Tribe, the second-largest hummus brand in the United States, just underwent a complete brand makeover. Besides snazzy new packaging, increased social media engagement and new flavors, Carr said, connecting with consumers about how exactly hummus is made is a key aspect of the company’s marketing push.

“Consumers are getting wary of mainstream machine-made food branded as healthy,” Carr said. “We still follow a process that takes a tremendous amount of human touch. There isn’t a strict formula that you can adhere to so that you can add X of this and Y of that and have it taste the same every time.”

Carr said his company realized over the past year just how much American foodies most likely to consume hummus dislike the idea of having their food appear mass-produced. But Tribe is hardly alone in coming to that conclusion. Last month, Starbucks rolled out a line of pastries intentionally designed to look imperfect and “homemade,” in a bid to boost sales. Meanwhile, in the craft beer market, MillerCoors is trying to cement its Blue Moon brand as truly artisanal, fighting "beer snobs" who dismiss it as another mass-produced brew.

Tribe’s marketing effort is more scattershot than that, and includes trying to position the brand as equal parts playful, healthy and classy. For example, as part of its branding, Tribe is introducing a giant chickpea as a company mascot.

At the same time, Carr said Tribe is hoping to tap into that undercurrent of dislike for standardized production in order to increase sales. His company commands some 8 percent of the U.S. hummus market, according to Bloomberg. Sabra Hummus, the industry’s undisputed leader, has over 60 percent of the market share. Last year, sales for "refrigerated flavored spreads" -- comprised mostly of hummus -- totaled $530 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Carr said he hopes Tribe's marketing increases the number of households who consistently buy hummus.

“This is a fast-growing category,” Carr said. “People love hummus.”

HUMMUS CONQUERING AMERICA... FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Hummus is finally becoming mainstream and getting a lot of space in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

In some states - farmers are starting to plant chickpeas instead of tobacco.

Here's the story. Quite impressive. 

• BUSINESS
• Updated April 30, 2013, 3:44 p.m. ET

Hummus Is Conquering America

Tobacco Farmers Open Fields to Chickpeas; A Bumper Crop

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323798104578453174022015956.html

By DAVID KESMODELand OWEN FLETCHER

Bloomberg News

Sabra sales were estimated to reach $315 million last year.

CLOVER, Va.—Prodded by the largest U.S. hummus maker, farmers in the heart of tobacco country are trying to grow chickpeas, an improbable move that reflects booming demand for hummus.

The humble chickpea is having a heyday. But while demand for chickpeas and hummus is high, farmers are preparing themselves for a potential shortage. David Kesmodel has details. Photo: AP.

Sabra Dipping Co., a joint venture ofPepsiCo Inc. PEP -0.22% and Israel's Strauss Group Ltd., wants to cultivate a commercial crop in Virginia to reduce its dependence on the legume's main U.S. growing region—the Pacific Northwest—and to identify new chickpea varieties for its dips and spreads.

For Sabra, which makes hummus at a plant near Richmond, Va., a secondary source of supplies could help protect the company if a chickpea shortage occurred because of crop failures in Washington or Idaho. Sourcing chickpeas locally also would lower its shipping costs. But the Virginia effort carries risk, because experts say the state's high summer humidity could prove a significant obstacle to its viability.

"We need to establish the supply chain to meet our growing demand," says Sabra's chief technology officer, Tulin Tuzel. "We want to reduce the risk of bad weather or concentration in one region. If possible, we also want to expand the growing seasons."

Long a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine, hummus is earning a growing following among Americans seeking more-healthful snacks. The chickpea dip is low in fat and high in protein. Sales of "refrigerated flavored spreads"—a segment dominated by hummus—totaled $530 million at U.S. food retailers last year, up 11% from a year earlier and a 25% jump over 2010, according to market-research firm Information Resources Inc.

Related Video: Hummus Recipe

Watch Denize Hazime of the popular online series "Dede's Mediterranean Kitchen" share her recipe for hummus.

The growth has caught the attention of big food companies like PepsiCo, which bought a 50% stake in Sabra in 2008, and Kraft Foods Group Inc.,KRFT -0.16% which owns Athenos, another big hummus brand. Sabra on Tuesday is expected to announce an $86 million expansion of its hummus plant near Richmond to help meet demand. It expects to add 140 jobs to the facility, which currently employs about 360, over the next few years.

Sabra doesn't disclose financial data, but IRI data show its hummus sales were about $315 million last year, up about 18%. And because some retailers, including Costco Wholesale Corp., COST -0.18% don't provide information to IRI, the figures understate Sabra's retail sales.

Sabra, based in White Plains, N.Y., has helped introduce more Americans to hummus through huge sampling events in major cities in which it has handed out 10,000 2-ounce packages a day. Sabra began its first national television advertising campaign earlier this year.

"Most of the consumers out there still don't know what hummus is," said Adam Carr, chief executive of Tribe Mediterranean Foods Inc., a Sabra rival. "We think that there are going to be lots of new users coming to the category."

Growing demand for hummus has pushed up prices for chickpeas, spurring farmers to increase production. The average price that farmers received for chickpeas was 35 cents a pound last year, a 10-cent increase over the mid-2000s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Though chickpeas are a tiny crop compared with corn or wheat, last year's U.S. harvest totaled a record 332 million pounds, up 51% from the previous year, according to the USDA. The value of the U.S. chickpea crop hit a record $115.5 million last year, USDA data show.

Enlarge Image

David Kesmodel/The Wall Street Journal

Last year's U.S. chickpea harvest jumped 51% from the previous year. Above, Virginia farmer James Brown is testing the legume.

U.S. farmers are expected to plant a record 214,300 acres of chickpeas this year, up 3% from last year and a fivefold increase over a decade ago, the USDA said. Demand for the U.S. crop from Spain, Turkey and Pakistan also has led farmers to plant more.

In Walla Walla, Wash., farmer Pat McConnell, 51, said he intends this spring to plant about 950 acres with chickpeas, more than double his crop last year. "They've become a pretty lucrative option," he said. "I really think chickpeas are going to continue to grow in popularity."

Virginia officials are eager to develop new crops in a state where tobacco farming has shrunk dramatically since the 1990s because of declining cigarette sales.

Sabra has provided financial support for chickpea research at Virginia State University, and this spring, Virginia State recruited farmers to plant chickpeas in on-farm trials.

But Virginia's summer humidity and heat could make chickpeas more susceptible to a fungus known as Ascochyta blight that long has threatened chickpea crops in the U.S.

Virginia State University agronomist Harbans Bhardwaj is working on identifying a variety more suited to the climate, that could potentially be planted months earlier than most chickpeas. Mr. Bhardwaj thinks Virginia farmers may be able to grow the crop on a commercial scale within three years.

James Brown, a 72-year-old tobacco, corn and soybean farmer in Clover, Va., said he knew nothing about chickpeas when an extension agent from Virginia State called him several months ago and asked if he would plant the legume.

He said he jumped at the opportunity because he is looking for ways to make his roughly 300-acre farm more profitable.

Mr. Brown planted four acres with chickpeas in mid-April. That week, his wife served him the first chickpeas he'd ever eaten. "They tasted pretty good," the farmer said.

Write to David Kesmodel at david.kesmodel@wsj.com and Owen Fletcher atowen.fletcher@dowjones.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Sabra co-owner Strauss discloses some of Sabra's financial results in Strauss's securities filings. An earlier version of this article failed to note the parent company's disclosure.

A version of this article appeared April 30, 2013, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Hummus Conquers America.

Itzik Hagadol - Encino, California

OVERALL RATING: * ( 1 star out of 5)
PRICE: ULTRA EXPENSIVE
TASTE: * ( 1 star out of 5)

Itzik Hagadol is an Israeli restaurant across the street from the Encino Town Center shopping mall. A great location for a restaurant in Encino that holds so much potential. It shares the same name as a popular middle eastern restaurant in Israel.  From their website it seems that the two restaurant are connected:  http://itzikhagadol.com/

Currently this is the most expensive Middle Eastern restaurant I've eaten in the united states - and unfortunetly the price doesn't justify the experience.

Even their lunch menus are super expensive. 

An average meal is between $30 - $50 per person and when you think what you get in return - some  Hummus and a little bit of middle eastern food -you ask yourself are people crazy for agreeing to pay that price?

As for the taste:

The Hummus is mostly bland and uninspiring just like most of their salads.
That said, their Pitas are baked on the premise and are wonderful and fresh. 

Their lunch 10 salad special is a scam. It's not only expensive (about $10 per person as a main dish and about $6 for a side dish and everyone at the table is forced to pay it regardless if only one person orders it or if everyone orders it) They bring to the table those salads that are the least inspiring. They don't give Hummus, Tabulleh or any of the salads that are what people usually desire and expect when they crave for middle eastern salad.

During lunch when I was there, the place was packed which proves that perhaps some people don't mind paying a lot and getting very little. 

Nearbye there are a lot of middle eastern restaurants. One of them even advertises a full buffet meal for $9.99. So it make one wonder about the logic or rational of Hummus lovers.

Here is their address for those not caring about price or taste. 

17201 Ventura Boulevard

Encino, CA 91316
(818) 784-4080