Organic Hummus

I think Hummus is a great product. Although it is not very popular in the US, it is very popular in other places around the world such as Israel, where Hummus is in most hotels and restaurants.

At Whole Foods Market they sell Emerald Valley Kitchen Hummus, this hummus says that it is organic, and has the stamp of approval right on the front with the USDA Organic symbol in plain view.

At Costco they sell Oasis Naturals Hummus, this hummus says that it is all natural. Now all natural is not the same as organic, it is not even close actually.

On the cover if you didn't really know any better you could get confused. The fronts both look very similar, they say low fat, or not trans fat and what not. The Oasis Naturals just uses all natural products, not actually organic natural products.

When you take a look at the sides you will see that for the most part they both have all the same ingredients. The difference:


+Emerald Valley Hummus+--------------+Oasis Naturals Hummus+

+Organic Garbanzo beans--------------------------+Garbanzo beans
+Organic Tahini Butter----------------------------+Tahini
+Organic Feta Cheese and Organic spinach------+Roasted peppers
+Organic Garlic powder----------------------------+Canola Oil
+organic hulled sesame seeds----------------------+Olive Oil
+Organic Lemon juice------------------------------+Lemon Juice
+Organic pasturized milk---------------------------+Cultured skim milk

"To be organic, everything in the product has to be organic, everything," said Laura Burkhart, Organic specialist at Whole Foods Market. "Lots of food say its all natural and some food can say partial organci if some stuff is organic, but the USDA will only let it say all organic if it is 100%."

As you can see most of the ingredients in the two are very similar, a few differences, but as you can see everything in the Emerald Valley lists straight up that it is organic.

As for the differences in the more physical aspect the two seem to look a lot alike, the non-organic hummus is a bit smoother than the organic kind but not a huge difference really.

As for the taste test, of course they are different flavors, but they both are really good and i really cant see a difference. The Organic hummus is a lot healthier for you though, it has more than half the fat and about 1/3 less calories. "I think all the Organic stuff tastes exactly the same,"said Uncle David, customer service at Whole foods.

Emerald Valley has also done a few very nice things that are listed on the cap. These things are very eco friendly such as put a recycle sign right on the label letting you know that the container itself is recyclable. Also it says that 1% of its sales goes to humanitarian/environmental projects.



A little how-to video on how to make your own hummus
-just replace all the ingredients with organic ingredients to make this hummus organic