2-6 IAN Hummus

 Hummus, the increasingly popular food made from garbanzo beans, captivates Americans’ taste buds enough to take a bite out of salsa’s dominance as a snack food, creating an important opportunity for Idaho agriculture. Palouse growers, who have made the hills of northern Idaho and eastern Washington a major producer of peas, lentils, and garbanzos, took note as rising prices signaled healthy market demand for garbanzos. Genesee-based Pacific Northwest (PNW) Farmers Cooperative, among others, saw the opportunity to build their businesses by meeting the needs of companies ranging from startups to Fortune 200-class food product makers.

 Bill Loftus, science writer, UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences had this comment: “Garbanzos or chickpeas are very popular and now with the increase of hummus as a popular snack food garbanzos are enjoying even greater market share.”

 A scientific study, whose results were published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, showed that incorporating garbanzo beans into a healthy diet can significantly reduce both total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels. The cholesterol-diminishing power of garbanzo beans is due in part to their soluble fiber content. Soluble fiber coats the digestive tract, trapping cholesterol-laden bile and removing it from the body.