Soaking, cooking, and fermenting legumes make them easier to digest, reducing or eliminating an indigestible sugar called oligosaccharide present in them.
We love legumes, and this is a great way to prepare them. Hummus is not just for chickpeas any more!
Note in the gallery below, I use Masontops fermentation lids and weights just like I would fermenting sauerkraut or pickles. However, legumes don’t build up a lot of pressure, so you would be fine just using a metal lid and ring or whatever lid comes with the container during the relatively short fermentation time.
We have also made hummus with natto as the base cooked bean. It’s good 😬 (I say with an overly huge grin, as I don’t typically enjoy natto on its own).
Fermented Hummus
Ingredients
Fermented Beans
- 500 g (1 lb.) dried beans chickpeas, or pinto, fava, lima, pink, black beans, lentils
- 30 ml (2 Tbsp.) pickle brine, liquid whey, sauerkraut or other fermented veggie brine
- filtered water
- fine sea salt
Hummus
- 170 ml (¾ cup) tahini
- 8 ml (1 ½ tsp.) fine sea salt
- 150 ml (⅝ cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp fresh herbs (dill, chives, mint, fennel leaves, cilantro, parsley, etc.)
- 120 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Soak Beans
- Soak beans in cool water for 4 to 8 hours or overnight to make them more digestible and reduce anti-nutrient content.
- If you have extra pickle brine, splash 2 tablespoons (30 ml) in with the soaking brine.
- Drain well after soaking.
Cook & Ferment Beans
- Add fresh water (about 1 liter/quart) and legumes to a pot and bring to a boil. Cook until "al dente", meaning a little firm, less than you would if you were eating them straight away. Cooking time varies by bean type.
- Drain cooked beans, and let sit for 15-20 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
- Make a 4% brine (salt to water weight) by stirring 20 grams sea salt into 500 ml water until dissolved.
- Place cooked beans in a container with a lid, then pour the salt brine on top.
- Add mature pickle brine.
- Cover lid (may be loose or tight if using jar) and let ferment 3 days.
- Drain beans from brine. No need to rinse them unless they're slimy, in which case, rinse briefly. In the case of chickpeas, you may wish to rub the beans while submerged in a pot of water, to remove the husks (which will float to the surface).
Make Hummus
- Add beans, 1 1/2 teaspoons (8 ml) salt and mince garlic and add to the bowl of a food processor. Squeeze lemon juice in. Process on low to incorporate ingredients for 10 to 15 seconds.
- Mince fresh herbs. Add herbs and tahini to bowl. Take it for another 15 second spin.
- Drizzle olive oil into food processor while spinning for another 1 to 3 minutes, until it reaches the desired hummus consistency. Add up to 1/4 cup (60 ml) filtered water if necessary to thin out.
- Transfer to a serving or storage bowl.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate and consume within 3 days, or freeze for up to a month.
Author and founder of Fermenters Club. I’ve been fermenting food for 14 years.
In 2024, I published my first book, Fearless Fermenting.
When not stuffing things into jars, I enjoy permaculture gardening, cooking, yoga, writing, and studying cosmology and esoteric traditions.
A couple of questions about this recipe: 1. Do I drain the beans right after cooking? Or after the 20-30 minutes of cooling? 2. When fermenting the beans, should the lid be on tight? Or should I use an airlock?
1. Yes, drain beans and then let them cool.
2. As long as the lid keeps out flies it will work. There is little danger of pressure building up in the short fermentation time, so you can add lid with hand tightness.
I updated the recipe to show these. Thank you!