Ahh… hummus. The very word invites images of crisp crackers, crunchy chips, and neatly wrapped tortillas filled to the brim with this creamy, savory bean goodness.

But what does the raw foodist do who craves this garlicky sensation? In comes the humble zucchini!

Any search engine will bring up tons of recipes for “raw hummus”. You will note that some do contain the traditional garbanzo bean, but simply in sprouted form. In my eagerness to try this I recently bought a bag of dried garbanzos… and they are still sitting in my pantry. I can’t explain my hesitation except that maybe I am not ready for the complications of learning the sprout techniques yet. Or maybe I don’t want to mess with anything quite yet that might interfere with the digestive cleansing that I am sure is going on in my body.

So imagine my delight when I came upon raw hummus made with zucchini instead of garbanzos at all! I grabbed a can of raw sesame tahini from my local health food store and here is the result. Success! It was a new concept for me to dip raw vegetables in hummus, but I loved it. Previously hummus was just another excuse for me to eat bread or other flour grain products.

Zucchini Hummus

2 medium zucchini, peeled and chunked
1/2 cup raw sesame tahini
1 clove minced garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt & pepper to taste
and whatever other traditional hummus spices you like! (I used cayenne, parsley, cumin, coriander)
1-2 T olive oil

Puree all in food processor while drizzling in the olive oil until it achieves the consistency you like. Garnish with some parsley and/or paprika. Ooo la la!