A few weeks ago, I was browsing the savory spread section at my local grocery, without much hope of finding something appropriate for the blog. But I was pleasantly surprised, as I saw something unusual--a hummus that was dark chocolate flavored. Looking at the label, I was further blessed, as it was a product of Canada. I also bought another selection from this brand, one that was less unusual--an edamame (soybean) flavored hummus. Both were from the Lantana brand.
So what's the story behind Lantana? The official company website was mute, so I had to get what little I could from other business websites. They report that the company was founded by three people--Robert Ferraro, Gil Oren, and John Kincaid. The date was 2011, and the headquarters were in Austin, Texas. Lantana reportedly employs between 11 and 50 people, and was originally named Eat Well Embrace Life. And that's all I have about the background. Otherwise, Lantana makes many kinds of hummus, some dips, some salsas, and a few salads. Some of these are offbeat, such as hummus flavors of sriracha carrot, avocado, cauliflower pizza crust, and even a seasonal pumpkin spice one. Latana is also proud that its packaging is BPA-free, and fully recyclable. But it finally happened: a company admitted to using artificial ingredients, gluten, and various allergens in its products. (Okay, this has happened many times for the foods and drinks I've sampled and wrote about over the years, but lately it seems bizarrely rare.) Moving on, although the company's headquarters are in Austin, apparently they have other plants and distribution centers elsewhere, as my hummus came out of Ferndale, Michigan. Also, I never found out why some (all?) of Lantana's products are actually made in Canada. Better ingredients? Cheaper labor? Laxer safety rules? It's a mystery.
Lantana edamame hummus: This was a typical pale yellow color, with a reddish pepper clump in the middle. The taste was like most hummus I've had, or very good. However, I can't say I really detected the edamame flavor--it seemed like regular hummus to me. Which, again, is a positive. I had some plain, and then on a cracker. Both ways were very good.
Lantana dark chocolate hummus: This one, obviously, was a very dark brown color. I could definitely taste the chocolate--it was pretty overwhelming. As regular readers know, I strongly prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate because of the bitterness of the latter. Plain this hummus was a bit below average. But, on a cracker it was improved. The cracker cut the bitterness nicely. So, on a cracker this was alright. Not my favorite kind of hummus, but a fun alternative. I didn't have any problems finishing it. I don't think I'll buy this flavor again, but maybe folks who adore dark chocolate would love this.
Therefore, I came away impressed by these Lantana selections of hummus. I'll definitely consider buying the edamame one again, or trying other Lantana flavors. Otherwise, I realize that this post is a bit short--there wasn't much else to say about these products. And I couldn't realistically list the famous people from the company's countries, since the U.S. and Canada (and even Texas and Michigan) are full of them. I will, though, provide a preview of an upcoming post. Look for another movie trivia quiz soon, one about a film that spawned a very popular series. It's a little hard to categorize, but I would say they're in the action/sci-fi genres.
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