ISO preservatives tips..

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

not that i want to use preservatives myself.
just wondered who here have experience with using it and what can he or she tell us about it (tips)


the idea popped into my mind after thinking that fresh hummus or mesabaha have a short life time


so feel free to share some insights

 

[karadekoolaid]

Well it all depends on what you want to preserve, and how you want to preserve it.
Dried? Frozen? Canned?
And I don´t see any way of preserving hummus, I´m afraid. It´s one of those things you make on the spot and consume as quickly as possible.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

i'm talking about this ingridient called preservative. sometimes they are powdered....


when you buy hummus in the store there are added preservatives almost all of the times

 

[dragnlaw]

Unless we know which preservative you are talking about it is pretty hard to say anything.

For hummus I would think they are adding it just to give a bit of shelf life in the store.

Are you mis-understanding the meaning of preservative? It can be several substances. eg. sulfates, nitrates, sorbates...
all meant to delay spoilage, help stop the growth of bacteria and sometimes just to retard the foods discolouration.

 

[GotGarlic]

Using preservatives in the manner you're describing takes a lot of research and careful control of ingredients and preparation processes. For these reasons, it's not generally done at home.

 

[karadekoolaid]

There are dozens of preservatives, and as GG says, you´d be ill-advised to go playing around with them unless you know what you´re doing.

 

[blissful]

Seeing..
I make about 6 cups of hummus at a time. I make it bland with lemon and garlic or plain, then add flavor when we use it.
I pack it in 8 oz glass canning jars and freeze. Because it is a paste and not a liquid, no jars have broken in the freezer for the past 3 years.
When I use it, I thaw it out, in the microwave or let it sit the fridge, then use it for a spread or for a dip. Mostly I use it for dip, or spread on bread when I make tomato sandwiches, or as part of a dressing for ww macaroni veggie salad.

When I run out of frozen jars of it, I make more and freeze it again.


If I plan to use a lot, like 16 ounces, and use it all, that's fine, but it doesn't keep more than a few days in the fridge. It will begin to mold.

 

[dragnlaw]

Perfect solution bliss, good to know due to the thickness of something when you freeze.

But you also need the freezer space and I'm not sure that SEE.T.B mentioned he doesn't have a lot of that.

Seeing T B - don't know how much you would want to keep on hand. If you are looking for ... say maybe ... 1 or 2 weeks worth? You could possibly buy that quantity at the store, keep it in the fridge and as long as you don't open them until such time as you will use them, they should be good.

It is after things like that are opened that they begin to deteriorate quickly.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

I pack it in 8 oz glass canning jars and freeze

a hummus that has been frozen after being in the food processor is not good in my opinion.
it is both the consistency and also the feeling that you get from something that has been frozen.....


i don't think all foods have to be "fresh". stews and braised beef are better the day after... in my opinion


but hummus is better not being frozen. and if frozen you can try to freeze the whole cooked chickpeas.....


3 short tips for hummus
process it cold
add soda powder in the cooking process to make it soft enough (you need to know exactly how to add it)

use citric acid instead of lemon for better taste (but just a tiny bit)


and also
you don't have to put the tahini in the food processor. you can add it later for easy clean up
don't use garlic or granulated garlic


just chickpeas, liquid, salt, citric acid, pretty good amount of tahini and maybe a little bit of crounded cumin


sorry that don't explain more from my experience with hummus

 

[taxlady]

Maybe you don't have to put garlic in humus, but I like it in humus. I also like to add some black olives. That adds a really nice flavour touch. It does make the humus a funny colour, but it's very tasty.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

hummus in north america is not always the same like in ISRAEL

 

[karadekoolaid]

a hummus that has been frozen after being in the food processor is not good in my opinion.
it is both the consistency and also the feeling that you get from something that has been frozen....

3 short tips for hummus
process it cold
add soda powder in the cooking process to make it soft enough (you need to know exactly how to add it)
use citric acid instead of lemon for better taste (but just a tiny bit)
and also
you don't have to put the tahini in the food processor. you can add it later for easy clean up
don't use garlic or granulated garlic

Well like you, I would not be happy eating frozen hummus. Many people in the West subscribe to the "freeze everything" culture, and they are fully entitled to. I, personally, don´t.
One of my big taste objections to some shop-bought hummus is precisely that I can taste soda and citric acid, and I find them unpleasant. I use lemon/lime juice .
If you cook the chickpeas properly, and you´ve bought chickpeas which are not 10 years old, you should have no problem getting the peas soft.I don´t know why, but I always cook them without salt. I recall reading somewhere that the salt hardens the skin, but that´s probably just a myth.
Hummus for me HAS to have garlic in it - however, that may be a regional thing. My recipe is based on Lebanese, not Israeli cooking.
A pinch of cumin would go down well with me, but I don´t add any because my wife doesn´t like the taste.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

some in israel will add garlic too


it is just that the best hummus is without it in opinion.
but most people don't know how to make this kind of hummus.


i always want to write more tips about it but never do that....


i plan to make a section on my website dedicated to unfinished recipes and tips so that it would be available to more people and not be waited until i write the full recipe.


i plan to call the section something like "sketches"


anyhow
i don't think that many hummus restaurants will add salt to the chickpeas at cooking


i wish i could find some photo of hummus to share but i can't find one because i've so many photos on my computer. i will try to do that at somepoint too......

 

[Just Cooking]

This is an interesting/informative discussion.

I feel a bit sad in that, no matter how many I have tried, I just cannot enjoy hummus.

I have a distaste for chickpeas, in any form and that does not make me happy as, I am not a picky eater.

Ross

 

[blissful]

Just Cooking, there are other similar spreads that use vegetables that are not chick peas.
https://iheartvegetables.com/hummus-recipes-without-chickpeas/

Over the past few years, I've found some beans depending on freshness and type, taste more or less 'beany'. And some spreads/dips can be made without beans at all, and still fit the bill like a traditional hummus.

 

[taxlady]

This is an interesting/informative discussion.

I feel a bit sad in that, no matter how many I have tried, I just cannot enjoy hummus.

I have a distaste for chickpeas, in any form and that does not make me happy as, I am not a picky eater.

Ross

Maybe your body is telling you not to eat chickpeas by making them have a distaste to you. Maybe it would be unhealthy for you or you would have a reaction to too many of them.

As blissful mentioned, there are recipes for humus that don't involve chickpeas. I have heard of using other kinds of beans. I have even heard of using peanut butter instead of tahini, but I haven't tried either of those changes.

 

[GotGarlic]

Just Cooking, there are other similar spreads that use vegetables that are not chick peas.
https://iheartvegetables.com/hummus-recipes-without-chickpeas/

Over the past few years, I've found some beans depending on freshness and type, taste more or less 'beany'. And some spreads/dips can be made without beans at all, and still fit the bill like a traditional hummus.

If they're made with anything other than chickpeas, they're not a traditional hummus. They're either bean dip or some kind of puréed vegetable, but not hummus.

 

[blissful]

Thanks Gotgarlic, what are you trying to say then?

 

[GotGarlic]

Thanks Gotgarlic, what are you trying to say then?

I thought I was pretty clear. What do you not understand?

 

[blissful]

I thought I was pretty clear. What do you not understand?

I thought it was odd that you quoted my post 'as though' you were going to respond with something, who knows what? But instead you just echo'ed what I'd said.