Source Foods Hommus

This weekend I visited Source, which is a cafe in the inner suburbs of Perth that Tom and I have been frequenting since it was opened by a friend of ours a few years ago. That friend recently sold the business, but fortunately the new owners haven't changed much, and the food is still excellent. Source is "committed to providing fresh, tasty food, coffee & juice options with minimal ecological impact," which means that they try to maximise the amount of fresh, local, and organic ingredients in their products. They also provide heaps of options for vegans, vegetarians, and those who are gluten-intolerant. All of this is good, but this blog is about hommus, so let's talk about that.

I tried Source's hommus with a toasted panini, and it was just about perfect. The hommus is very fresh-tasting, and has a very nutty chickpea flavour. The garlic is very understated, which I think is good for such a mild hommus. Interestingly there's no tahini here, which makes for a much lighter flavour, and is a feature of another fantastic cafe hommus that we'll be reviewing soon. Maybe there's something to this no-tahini idea. Because this is a freshly-made hommus, there's no need for preservatives like vinegar or (loads of) salt, so there's a really delicious lightness to it.

Texture-wise, the hommus is very solid. I'd guess that this is because in the cafe they use hommus to spread on bread for a couple of the cooked breakfast dishes, and the fantastic tempeh burger. A runnier hommus probably wouldn't work for that sort of use.

Overall, this is one of my favourite hommuses, and I'll be asking for it again. The only problem is that the dish as I had it - just a bowl of hommus with a lemon wedge and toasted panini - isn't on the menu! Hopefully the next menu update will change that.

4.75 chickpeas out of 5.

Willow Farm hommus

Willow Farm hommus is available at my local Woolworths, which is a good start. The packaging is nice and simple, and the plastic tub is transparent so you can see the colour of the hommus. The consistency is really good, probably a bit runnier than Chris' which I think is more like a dip. To me hommus should be slightly runny, not so much that you can't get a decent amount on a cracker or chip, but it shouldn't be firm enough to hold an outline of whatever gets dipped in it.

The hommus tastes really good, and it has a strong savoury flavour from the tahini and vinegar. I really hate any hint of sugary sweetness in my hommus, so this is great for me. The garlic is very mild, and there's not much lemon flavour in it. The vinegar is a good addition and I'll be looking out for it in other hommuses.

I enjoyed Willow Farm hommus with some water crackers and some home-pickled jalapenos, and it was really good. I enjoyed it more the more I ate. A strong challenger to Chris' as my go-to supermarket hommus. Not the best hommus in the world, but it could be the best hommus available at a national supermarket chain.

This 200g tub was about $3, which is really good value by Australian supermarket standards, but still doesn't beat the 500g Chris' tubs for value.

4 chickpeas out of 5.