I’ve had Cava store bought hummus before and it’s one of my favorite store bought hummuses.
There’s a flavor garbanzo beans start to take on when they lose their freshness stored in plastic on grocery store shelves. It’s the antithesis of fresh out of the pot hummus served in Israel and, I imagine, other parts of the Middle East.
Something that occurs to me in writing that last paragraph is that my hummus repertoire is limited based on a course of study that has focused primarily on middle eastern varieties and primarily Israeli.
I’m feeling inspired to branch out for a better understanding of the different branches in the hummus family tree. For example how does a Greek hummus tend to differ from a middle eastern one? Or an Israeli from a Lebanese hummus? How many cultural varieties exist?
It occurs to me even more than before how under qualified I am to curate a blog about hummus.
But I love hummus. So I can’t help myself.
I’d also like to believe I know a good one.
Back to Cava.
It’s acceptable, especially for a store bought brand. It’s better than most. Decently fresh but not amazing. If you can’t get to a farmers market or a local restaurant that makes it fresh it’ll do.
And I realize in writing this review that in general hummus doesn’t like to be trapped for too long in plastic containers.
Even my favorite fresh farmers market hummus (Brothers) starts to lose some of its charm after a few days.
Somehow Cava’s doesn’t tend to get as offensive as other store bought hummuses get after sitting on the shelf, the consistency is decent, and the hint of tahina flavor is legitimate.
Rating 7.
One closing note is if you do have a Whole Foods in your area (which is where I buy Cava hummus) their own fresh made hummus is pretty good and I’ll write a separate review about this one one day.
But if you want a safe bet from the pre-made fridge at Whole Foods, Cava’s is decent.
The Hummus 