(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



New Day Cafe: the Many Moods of Hummus [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-06-20  

While modern day culinary elites have looked down on recent mass-produced hummus flavors such as dill pickle, snickerdoodle, and barbecue, Atlas Obscura points out that flavored hummus has been coming in all manner of flavors for hundreds of years: www.atlasobscura.com/…

“While today’s hummus manufacturers have been tripping over each other to add ingredients to the standard Middle Eastern dip of mashed chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic, sophisticated cooks in medieval kitchens across the Arab world had been adding fanciful ingredients to their hummus for centuries.

In the 14th century, the anonymous author of Kanz al-fawā’id fi tanwī’ al-mawā’id, or The Treasure of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table, instructed readers to “take boiled chickpeas, press them [through a sieve] to mash them. Put the mash in a porcelain bowl, sprinkle on it crushed salt, cumin, cassia, and anise seeds, all crushed. Also add olive oil and murri [a fermented condiment, similar to soy sauce or Asian fish sauce], and serve.” In a coda, the author advised that the dish “is even more delicious if you add to it [leeks], mint, and salt-preserved lemon.”

The 14th-century Kitab Wasf al-At’ima al-Mu’tada (The Book of Familiar Foods), based on an earlier, 13th century Baghdadi cookbook suggests adding tahini, oil, and vinegar to a base of boiled and mashed chickpeas. It also calls for over a dozen spices, including mace, green cardamom, nutmeg, Ceylon cinnamon, and toasted caraway, in addition to fresh mint and parsley, a variety of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios), preserved lemons, and olives. The recipe recommends smearing the dense, richly-spiced mixture on a plate and letting it sit overnight.”

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/20/2230383/-New-Day-Cafe-the-Many-Moods-of-Hummus?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/