chickpeas

[grandelatte]

Does anyone know if you should/shouldn't remove clear skin from canned chickpeas when using for hummus.... noticed some came off while rinsing??

[Val]

I have heard of doing this for a health condition...one of my coworkers' spouses had colitis and the only way he could eat hummus was without the skins per doctor's orders....she painstakenly would remove the skins and make the hummus for him, truly a labor of love. Removing the skins seems to remove the fiber so I don't think I'll be doing that ... I WANT the fiber! But, it's good to know about, I guess.

[iL Divo]

..............never thought of such a thing, love hummus, love garbanzos

[small h]

I started this thread:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/681045

and experimented with some of the suggestions. I was most successful using dried chickpeas, and skinning them, and then straining the hummus through a sieve. Yes, it's a major pain in the ass, and probably not worth it unless you set your hummus standards very high. But you will get a significantly better result. Are you the sort of person that does that egg white raft thing for your homemade stock? Then this method may be for you.

[bushwickgirl]

I like your comment about the time it took gave you a "chance to reflect on my oneness with the universe." As a person who does the egg white raft thing for stock with pleasurable abandon, I may try your technique if for that experience only.

Sieve = food mill or ricer?

[small h]

Actual sieve (really, just a strainer). As in me mashing and scraping the damned things through with a wooden spoon. I have a ricer, but it was not up to the task. I suggest you try it once. You'll definitely notice a difference. Whether or not you think that difference warrants the extra effort is another matter. I think it does, but heaven knows I cut corners in plenty of other areas.

[tullius]

What is the egg white raft thing? I did a search but couldn't find it. I make stock regularly & its good I probably don't need to add an extra, presumably time consuming step-but....I gotta know!

[bushwickgirl]

At the risk of going off topic, it's a process for clarifying stock used mostly for crystal clear consomme. Google it as you may not specifically find a thread dedicated to the process here at chow; but there are many, many stock making threads, and it would be very tedious (but very educational) to read through them all.

Here's a info link for the basic technique:

http://www.chefsclasses.com/howto/consommeHowto.html

small_h, ok, back to hummus, and I guess I'm willing to try this. In giving hummus some thought this evening, I realized I like the rather coarse texture. Back in the day before food processors, I remember making hummus once by pushing the very soft chick peas through a medium chinois with a large pestle, a sort of erzatz food mill affair, but don't remember the resulting texture. I'll have to give chick pea peeling next time I make it. Maybe I can get mrbushy to do it...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...

[iL Divo]

now you're talkin my language. I have 3 chinois and a huge mallet or whatever that pointy round wooden thing is called and 3 food mills also, MIL loved them so I figured if they're good enough for her kitchen, I need "some" too.

[tullius]

Thanx!

[small h]

I was just eying a chinois yesterday, and then I got hold of myself and bought the item I was actually in the store to buy - a new vegetable steamer to replace the one that mysteriously lost a leg (how does this happen?). One day, though. They seem very useful.

[bushwickgirl]

They are, and once you have one, you'll find many things to do with it. Get a proper pestle or muddler to fit, they are long, tapered into a cone shape, usually wooden, and can rotate around inside of the chinois, no pushing with a spoon. There are few different varieties of chinoises, fine and medium-fine wire mesh; medium and large hole perforated strainers are referred to as China caps rather than chinois; they are cousins in the culinary world.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&...

[cheesecake17]

Lots of people claim removing the skins makes for a smoother hummus.

Personally, I couldn't be bothered.

I do use a splash or two of the liquid in the can when I blend my hummus.

[sonia darrow]

This is discussed at length here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3168...

I tried removing them the last time I made hummus but it still came out rather grainy. I suspect my tiny, weak food processor is to blame.

[yumyum]

Post this on "home cooking" board and you'll get lots of spirited opinions, I'm sure.

[bushwickgirl]

There's no way I would spend any time removing the skins from garbanzos, canned or otherwise. I'm just not that anal. My hummus is creamy regardless.

IIRC, the virtures of garbanzo skin removal has been discussed at least a few times in the many chick pea threads and the technique has it's fans:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/290554#5572776
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4657...

[a.bot]

I had a friend who *swears* that her hummus is creamy because she takes the skin off the garbanzo beans. I think she's nuts.