Fava: Making Hummus from Fava Beans

Kalamata Olive Fava HummusWho: Fava, a San Francisco-based food maker

What: Their Fava Hummus and Fava Hearty Dip

Where:  At the Alemany Farmer’s Market, Whole Foods, and other Bay Area natural foods stores. Look on the Fava website for a complete list of stores where their products are sold.

Why:

  • Fava beans (that are actually peas) are the garbanzo bean of Egypt, and no one else has introduced this ethnic food item to the American eater
  • Fava beans are a nutrient-rich legume, that are high in protein and dietary fiber, and low in fat
  • You want an alternative to traditional garbanzo-bean-bases hummus dip – try the Kalamata Olive and Spicy flavors.
  • You want a bean-based dip that’s not mass-produced – this is all natural and thus more “real” tasting than the mass-market dips
  • You want to support a local vendor

Noteworthy:

  • Get the dips with flavoring added (Spicy, Garlic, etc.); standalone, the flavor of fava beans alone was a bit subtle. I didn’t mind, while others (especially when eating the chunky variety), were left unsure as to what the signature differentiator was.
  • This is a good replacement for hummus dip – follow some recipes from the website. It’s a tasty complement to eggs and pasta.
  • I should have attempted to add my own spices to the plainer dips to see how they’d fare…and I wonder if it would taste more like hummus if we added tahini sauce to it
  • The plain Hearty Fava Dip reminded tasters more of “refried beans”, which had more to do with the look and texture than the flavor. This is a branding issue that I hope Fava will resolve as they gain more traction.  Even in this case, so what if it’s sort of like refried beans? I heated some up with a fried egg and it seemed to complement my breakfast well.
  • Including the word “hummus” in its packaging was a bit of a misnomer for me and my band of taste-testers. People expected tahini-like flavoring but didn’t get it. If I pre-described the Fava as more akin to a “bean dip”, they were more amenable.

Disclosure: I receives samples to try.

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