This is welcome news particularly
as the plant happens to be a legume. I
have used it for a long time although not so much as a staple. Puréeing canned chickpeas and throwing in some sesame paste or tahini which is hard to get generally and the rest of the recipe is easy.
It can be eaten straight although
it is usually served with flatbread.
It will now become a major food
in our general larder which is good news to all those trying to rid themselves
of wheat products. I like to dip rice
cakes into it.
Hummus is conquering America
By David Kesmodel |
CLOVER, Va. —Prodded by the largest U.S.
hummus maker, farmers in the heart of tobacco country are trying to grow
chickpeas, an improbable move that reflects booming demand for hummus.
The humble chickpea is having a heyday. But while demand for chickpeas and hummus is high, farmers are preparing themselves for a potential shortage. David Kesmodel has details. Photo: AP.
Sabra Dipping Co., a joint venture of PepsiCo Inc. and Israel's Strauss
Group Ltd., wants to cultivate a commercial crop in Virginia to reduce its
dependence on the legume's main U.S. growing region—the Pacific Northwest—and
to identify new chickpea varieties for its dips and spreads.
For Sabra, which makes hummus at a plant near Richmond ,
Va. , a secondary source of supplies could help
protect the company if a chickpea shortage occurred because of crop failures in
Washington or Idaho . Sourcing chickpeas locally also would
lower its shipping costs. But the Virginia
effort carries risk, because experts say the state's high summer humidity could
prove a significant obstacle to its viability.
"We need to establish the supply chain to meet our growing demand," says Sabra's chief technology officer, Tulin Tuzel. "We want to reduce the risk of bad weather or concentration in one region. If possible, we also want to expand the growing seasons."
Long a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine, hummus is earning a growing
following among Americans seeking more-healthful snacks. The chickpea dip is
low in fat and high in protein. Sales of "refrigerated flavored
spreads"—a segment dominated by hummus—totaled $530 million at U.S.
food retailers last year, up 11% from a year earlier and a 25% jump over 2010,
according to market-research firm Information Resources Inc.
The growth has caught the attention of big food companies like PepsiCo, which bought a 50% stake in Sabra in 2008, and Kraft Foods Group Inc., which owns Athenos, another big hummus brand. Sabra on Tuesday is expected to announce an $86 million expansion of its hummus plant near Richmond to help meet demand. It expects to
add 140 jobs to the facility, which currently employs about 360, over the next
few years.
Sabra doesn't disclose financial data, but IRI data show its hummus sales were about $315 million last year, up about 18%. And because some retailers, including Costco Wholesale Corp., don't provide information to IRI, the figures understate Sabra's retail sales.
Sabra, based in White Plains ,
N.Y. , has helped introduce more
Americans to hummus through huge sampling events in major cities in which it
has handed out 10,000 2-ounce packages a day. Sabra began its first national
television advertising campaign earlier this year.
"Most of the consumers out there still don't know what hummus is," said Adam Carr, chief executive of Tribe Mediterranean Foods Inc., a Sabra rival. "We think that there are going to be lots of new users coming to the category."
Growing demand for hummus has pushed up prices for chickpeas, spurring farmers to increase production. The average price that farmers received for chickpeas was 35 cents a pound last year, a 10-cent increase over the mid-2000s, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Though chickpeas are a tiny crop compared with corn or wheat, last
year's U.S.
harvest totaled a record 332 million pounds, up 51% from the previous year,
according to the USDA. The value of the U.S. chickpea crop hit a record
$115.5 million last year, USDA data show.
David Kesmodel/The Wall Street Journal Last year's U.S. chickpea harvest jumped 51%
from the previous year. Above, Virginia
farmer James Brown is testing the legume.
U.S. farmers are expected to plant a record 214,300 acres of chickpeas this year, up 3% from last year and a fivefold increase over a decade ago, the USDA said. Demand for the U.S.
crop from Spain , Turkey and Pakistan also has led farmers to
plant more.
In Walla Walla , Wash. , farmer Pat McConnell, 51, said he
intends this spring to plant about 950 acres with chickpeas, more than double
his crop last year. "They've become a pretty lucrative option," he
said. "I really think chickpeas are going to continue to grow in
popularity."
Sabra has provided financial support for chickpea research at Virginia State
University , and this spring, Virginia State recruited farmers to plant
chickpeas in on-farm trials.
But Virginia's summer humidity and heat could make chickpeas more
susceptible to a fungus known as Ascochyta blight that long has threatened
chickpea crops in the U.S.
Virginia State University agronomist Harbans Bhardwaj is working on
identifying a variety more suited to the climate, that could potentially be
planted months earlier than most chickpeas. Mr. Bhardwaj thinks Virginia farmers may be
able to grow the crop on a commercial scale within three years.
James Brown, a 72-year-old tobacco, corn and soybean farmer in Clover, Va. , said he knew nothing about chickpeas when an
extension agent from Virginia
State called him several
months ago and asked if he would plant the legume.
He said he jumped at the opportunity because he is looking for ways to
make his roughly 300-acre farm more profitable.
Mr. Brown planted four acres with chickpeas in mid-April. That week,
his wife served him the first chickpeas he'd ever eaten. "They tasted
pretty good," the farmer said.
Write to David Kesmodel at david.kesmodel@wsj.com and Owen Fletcher at owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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