I didn’t first encounter hummus until I was in my mid-20’s (I won’t say I led a sheltered life up to then, but I hailed from a place where ethnic food was pizza or Chinese and that was about it…) I liked it immediately. ever since then, it has featured prominently in my repertoire and diet. One of my favourite variations of it is sun-dried tomato hummus.

One of the best things about hummus, aside from its simplicity and its nutritional strengths, is its versatility. It’s one of my favourite dips, spreads, snacks and appetizers all at the same time. As a staple dish all over the Mediterranean, many cultures boast a version or style of it; none of them better or worse than the other. That may sound wishy-washy, but I have yet to find a hummus I disagree with; there are only varying degrees of greatness.

I’ve seen hummus flavoured so many different ways; lemon-pepper, rosemary, basil, olive, red pepper, you get the idea. As well, there are many different commercially made versions of hummus on the market; not all of them are good… some of them are heartbreakingly mediocre. You owe it to yourself to make it from scratch; not just economically, but personally. At the risk of sounding mean, if you buy hummus instead of making it, you deserve the hummus you get. In this instance, I chose sun-dried tomato; mainly because it’s my favourite, and I could only post one version of it without getting redundant. This version had garnered a cult following among my customer base when I had a catering company years ago.

Sun-dried tomato hummus will keep for up to two weeks in your fridge, if it gets to hang around that long….