Stack me to heaven on a chickpea please! (Tesco Mixed Houmous Stacked Dip)

Member Name: xxfoxyredxx

Product:	Tesco Mixed Houmous Stacked Dip
Date:	18/09/08 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful flavours and a well put together variety of 3 pots

Disadvantages: None, they're perfect

Anyone who regularly reads my reviews will know all to well by now that I am a snacker on a huge scale. I'm much more of a savoury person than sweet as a rule. I went to Tesco's deliberately to get the 'Value' tortilla chips that I love (I have done a review on these) and while I was there I came across these snack pots and thought oh that sounds a good idea because not only do I adore houmous, if I buy a pot I get stuck with a whole large pot just for me (no one in my house likes it)and this being 3 small pots of different varieties really interested me!

The Packaging....

Bright yellow and cardboard. It has no sides so the 3 pots all rest on a layer of cardboard which you can slip them out of. On the top of the cardboard I'm told they 'Tesco, Mini Flavoured Houmous Stack', no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. Then there is a drawing of some chickpeas and the size of the product is stated (3x60g). Under that I'm told they are suitable for vegetarians and to keep them refrigerated and the display/use before date is stamped on. On the back I'm told each flavours nutritional values and there is a bar-code on there and then on the bottom I am told what they are, allergy advice, ingredients for each product is listed separately, told they are not suitable for freezing, and the size is stated once again. The three pots of houmous are clear plastic and round with see through peel off lids that all have the flavour stamped on the top clearly.

What They Are....

Flavoured houmous stacker. Lemon and coriander houmous, a chickpea and sesame seed paste dip with lemon and coriander. Roasted red pepper houmous, a chickpea and sesame seed paste dip with roasted red peppers. Caramelised onion houmous, a chickpea and sesame seed paste dip with caramelised onion.

Firstly I'm going to talk about each dip individually, if I may...

Lemon and Coriander Houmous...

A pale beige in colour with a decent amount of visible coriander in it (pieces of greenery). It looked like porridge at first glance with mould in it and at first taste I was greeted with a coriander taste that I thought yuk at! However it ended up being my second favourite out of the three pots because it grows on you! Not top garlicky it had a nice creamy texture and wasn't dry like so many houmous's can be. It was moist but not at all soggy.

A really nice hint of lemon gave it a fresh taste at the same time creating a little of a sour edge to the proceedings. The coriander was very finely chopped into it and blended nicely. I can only describe this one as fresh and it smells that way too. I really liked this and not a flavour I was familiar with. Would I buy the huge pot of this? Definitely! It was gorgeous once my tastebuds got over their first meeting!

Ingredients Of The Lemon And Coriander Houmous....

Chickpeas (40%), Vegetable Oil, Water, Tahini Sesame Seed Paste (12%), Concentrated Lemon Juice (3%), Coriander (2%), Jalapeño Chilli (2%), Sugar, Salt, Lemon Zest (1%), Garlic Purée, Coriander Powder, Paprika

Chickpeas contains: Chickpeas, Water

Jalapeño Chilli contains: Jalapeño Chilli, Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (Acetic Acid), Bay Leaf, Cinnamon, Clove

Nutritional Values Per Pot Of Lemon And Coriander Houmous....

Energy 205kcal
Protein 4.1g
Carbohydrate 6.8g
of which are sugars 1.5g
Fats 17.9g
of which are saturate 1.6g
Fibre 1.9g
Sodium 0.3g
Salt Equivalent 0.9g

Roasted Red Pepper Houmous....

Again not a flavour I'm familiar with this looked a little odd as well being a pinkish coloured porridge looking thing. Smell wise you could smell the peppers and a hint of garlic. This seemed a little drier in texture that the previous houmous and felt more grainy on the tongue but again was really lovely. You could taste the chickpea in this one as to me it was the one with the most texture to it. There were no pieces of visible red pepper in it but if your familiar with houmous you would identify the flavours. The garlic overpowered nothing and the flavours all had there own role to play within this. Not too salty this had a naturally sweet tang to it and went great on tortillas. Would I buy this one?... Absolutely, yet again it was really nice!

Ingredients Of The Red Pepper Houmous....

Chickpeas (51%), Vegetable Oil, Tahini Sesame Seed Paste (11%), Roasted Red Pepper (9%), Water, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Salt, Garlic Purée

Chickpeas contains: Chickpeas, Water

Roasted Red Pepper contains: Red Pepper, Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid)

Nutritional information Per Pot Of Red Pepper Houmous....

Energy 185Kcal
Protein 4.1g
Carbohydrate 6.6g
of which are sugars 07g
Fat 15.4g
of which are saturate 1.3g
Fibre 1.7g
Sodium 0.3g
Salt Equivalent 0.8g

Caramelised Onion Houmous....

The one I really wanted to try and never had done! I was slightly worried about it actually! Garlic and onion sounds... well erm....smelly!

In colour this one was a dark beige. Looked slightly less solid than the other two though still 'set' and not at all runny. The smell I was greeted with was mainly sweet roasted onions and I mean sweet smelling. Just really pleasant and a foody smell. You can see small pieces of onion dotted through the pot. Taste wise this was my number one and absolutely the nicest houmous I've EVER tasted (I'm even talking Turkish restaurants here!). The texture wasn't too rough and it had no lumps in it, it was fairly smooth. Yep you could taste the chickpea though it wasn't mushy and yes you could taste the garlic though this seemed less apparent in this one that the other two pots.

The thing that really stood out of this was the onions. Oh my word! They really were caramelised, soft, sweet (not overly so) and juicy in the mouth. None were hard or burnt or in cubes or uncooked there were slithers hidden within the houmous. If you love onions this was amazing and I went to heaven on a tortilla and back too soon (I ran out!). Still it remained light and unstodgy and wasn't a heavy product my tortilla couldn't hold. I was so impressed about this I called up a couple of my friends to tell them and they thought me mad but I really will be buying myself a tub a week of this one and this brand loads in the future! Rave about it? I can't stop! Buy it again? What do you reckon??!! lol

Ingredients Of Caramelised Onion Houmous....

Balsamic Caramelised Onion (42%), Chickpeas (32%), Vegetable Oil, Tahini Sesame Seed Paste (9%), Concentrated Lemon Juice, Salt, Garlic Purée

Balsamic Caramelised Onion contains: Onion, Water, Sugar, Garlic Purée, Balsamic Vinegar, Vegetable Oil, Salt

Chickpeas contains: Chickpeas, Water.

Nutritional Values Of Caramelised Onion Houmous....


Energy 135Kcal
Protein 3.5g
Carbohydrate 5.8g
of which are sugars 2.8g
Fat 10.9g
of which are saturates 1.0g
Fibre 2.6g
Sodium 0.3g
Salt Equivalent 0.7g

Overall....

The pots are quite small and are really individual servings... to me anyway. However they are the perfect way to sample the range before buying larger pots of the stuff and getting landing with stuff you don't like and giving you a bit of variety at the same time. I loved them all, thought they were all superb quality and distinguishable in flavours. Sure a little high in fat these are not diet products. I thoroughly enjoyed them and recommend them highly. I must get some pitta breads next time!

The Stack costs £1.25 and only in Tesco..

You can purchase the caramelised onion houmous (200g) for £1.14 though the other flavours are not available to buy separately but there are similar alternative options available and Tesco have a rather large range, including red pepper pesto houmous and Moroccan style houmous as alternatives to the one's I've mentioned and I shall be trying these as well!

Summary: Glass of wine, some warm pittas and this is heaven!