Who: 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.
