Delicious Discoveries: Fresh chickpea hummus

A Sanger-based company is carving out a niche with the production of hummus made from its own fresh garbanzo beans.

Most hummus is made from dried garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas. But Califresh of California, has introduced Sarah’s Harvest, Fresh Green Chickpea hummus.

Sarah Dean, the product’s namesake, says the company’s hummus has a fresh taste and is made with local ingredients, including its own garbanzo beans. Dean’s father, Morgan Murray, general manager of Califresh, has been a leader in the farming of fresh garbanzo beans.

The company explored the idea of creating its own hummus several years ago and ultimately developed a recipe they liked. They rolled the product out last year and it’s now in 100 WinCo stores, including two stores in Fresno and one in Clovis.

Dean says Sarah’s Harvest can be used like a dip, like other hummus products, but also as a spread. The product comes in three flavors, jalapeno/cilantro, roasted garlic/rosemary and original.

“I’ve put it on a rice cake and topped that with turkey meat,” Dean says. “I like to use the garlic and rosemary hummus on top of roasted chicken. It adds flavor to so many different things.”

Dean has also used the cilantro/jalapeno hummus as a dressing in her three-bean salad instead of oil and vinegar.

Along with WinCo, Sarah’s Harvest can be found at Peeve’s Public Market. Dean says she is also working on selling at the Vineyard Farmers Market, Blackstone and Shaw avenues.

The hummus retails for $3.98.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Delicious Discoveries: Fresh chickpea hummus."