Two weeks ago we purchased a small container of fresh hummus from the local food coop. It was delicious, much better than typical store-bought hummus, but it cost $4.50. I was convinced that I could make hummus just as good for a fraction of the price.

I started with two cans of garbanzo beans. They say that using dried beans provides the best flavor, but sometimes waiting half a day for beans to pre-soak takes too long.

I dumped the garbanzo beans into the food processor, plus 3/4 cup of tahini, 3/4 cup olive oil, juice of one lemon (I used lemon juice concentrate because I’d forgotten to buy a lemon), and the following spices to taste: cumin, red pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, and salt.

Now blend.  I like a little fresh parsley in my hummus, so I added a bit of that as well.

And that was it. We spent about $6 to make approximately 1 quart of hummus (about 4 times the amount of hummus we purchased at the co-op). For those who are counting:

• Co-op hummus: $4.50/cup
• Homemade hummus: $1.50/cup

If we had used dried beans, we could have saved even more money. Next time I will. My goal is to get this recipe under $1 per cup.