How to make dehydrated hummus - YUM

When Geoff goes hiking, he often takes Ryvita crackers as a staple carbohydrate, but they can be a bit dry so something like hummus is a great option for protein, flavour, moisture and texture. BUT taking hummus hiking is a challenge. First, it's wet and squishy and usually comes in quantities larger than a single serve, so how do you successfully do that in a backpack?

My solution - dehydrate it!

The idea came to me that this might be a viable option when I was preparing some other dehydrated food for camping. And what do you know? It worked. Here's what to do:

1. Make your hummus. (If you're pressed for time, you could even use a refrigerated version from the grocery store.) Use your own recipe or follow mine below:
Hummus
- 1 large can Cortas brand hummus mix
- 1 lemon
- 1-2 cloves garlic crushed
- olive oil to taste

Mix together the above ingredients to taste - add (or subtract) more lemon, garlic or olive oil to suit your taste.

2. Spread your hummus onto solid plastic food dehydrator liners (or plastic wrap suited to your dehydrator) in measured and separate splodges. I use about 1/3 c per serve. My liners take about 4 splodges and the above recipe makes about 3 cups. (Note: you could just spread each tray with unmeasured hummus, but doing it in distinct sploges will save you measuring into serving sizes at the end.)

3. Stick it in the dehydrator until it's dry - overnight is good. I usually check mine in the morning and if there are any damp bits I turn them over and leave it a bit longer. As it dries, the hummus will shrink and break up into smaller pieces.

4. Once cooled from the drying process, take each pile of hummus individually and stick it in the blender/food processer and pulse it until it is finely ground up. (My hand held one works great!) This step should make rehydration faster. Place in sealable plastic bags and label.

5. To rehydrate, add about 60-65 mLs of water to a packet. Let stand/sit at least 30 minutes. Preferably up to an hour. You can check on it occasionally and add more water if needed. (Note: This may best be done in a sealable container - or in the bag, but put the bag into your cooking pot while hiking so you don't end up with a pack full of hummus or just a pot to clean up if it does leak.)

Additional Notes:
Measuring it out - If you opt for drying a whole tray rather than splodges of it, this will be a helpful reference.
1/3 c hummus = 3 Tbsp dried hummus
1 c hummus = 1/2 c + 1 Tbsp dried hummus

In figuring out how much water to add to the powder, I simply put the dried hummus into my 1/3 c measure then added water while it was on my scales to full. My first attempt may have been a bit runny so the numbers are not exact. If you don't have a way to measure, I would add less water, let it absorb (check occasionally) and then add to it bit by bit until it is fully rehydrated and the consistency you want.

Geoff is testing it out in Tassie on a bushwalk right now and I can guarantee that this recipe will be a staple in our family camping food!