Introduction:
Before I get into the experiment, let me be clear what I am doing.
My quest is to create a hummus that is smooth. I reside in Costa Rica, where I have little control on the source and quality of beans, since most dishes here do not mash the beans like is done for hummus.
According to humus101 web site I should use middle eastern beans for best results. Unfortunately, I don’t have these available, so I have to find a way to optimize the local stuff.
My hummus is pretty good, but not as smooth as the ones in Israel. I suspect it may be one of a number of things:
- the beans are not inherently soft
- the skin of the beans has to be removed
- the soaking process has to be modified
- the cooking process has to be modified
As I am not likely to change the beans, and removing the skin is a solution of last resort (you try and peel several cups of beans every time you make hummus!), I am going to start with experiments regarding the soaking and cooking of the beans.
In the good old days, I would use software like Design Expert, SPSS or JMP to create a series of experiments, with variables including the source of the beans, their size, etc. and results containing the size and softness of the beans. Alas, I am no longer in possession of my old software, and the companies charge in excess of $1000 per package, so I would have to do the experiments one at a time, and only draw relative conclusions.
Experiment 1:
I got a bag of local garbanzo beans (Costa Rican), which seem much smaller to the eye then the usual variety I get at the local Walmart (Walmart controls most retail here, with chains called Mas X Menos, MaxiBodega, Hypermas and Pali. They sell whatever import they can get cheaper, and I usually shop there. Today, however, I found out I have no beans for my lunch tomorrow (slow cooked oxtail with vegetables), so I ran to the local mini-market, and got their beans.
The package says 400 grams, but my scale says 409 grams. My measuring cup measures a little over 2 cups. I am going to take one cup and soak it overnight in regular water, and the other cup in water plus 1 teaspoon of baking soda. I will report the experimental details bean’s weight and size before and after soaking in the next post.
By the way, in studying soaking, my hypotheses are:
1. Baking soda makes the beans larger, possibly softer after cooking.
2. Soaking for 8 hours or 24 hours or 72 hours make little difference.
See you in the next post.