Waste Not, Want Not - Raw Nut Pulp Hummus

I said I would deliver, and so I have.
Allow me to introduce you to a pretty special, however delightfully simple, raw hummus made out of, what else? Leftover pulp from making nut milk. Hoorah!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am about the overwhelming enthusiasm from all of you out there, inspired and making nut milk for the first time. But there was certainly a lot of curiosity about what to do with the leftover pulp, which I think is great - it means you don't want to throw away food! Well, waste not, want not - this recipe is now at the top of my yummy list, even if it is made from leftovers. So creamy, bright and fresh, this confident dip will stand up next to any chickpea version. It’s not a pity hummus; it’s the real deal. In fact, I would even go so far to say the new reason for making nut milk, is Raw Nut Pulp Hummus. Whoa.

There are more things to make with nut pulp than I can count, and there is even an entire website dedicated to this very subject (lucky us! The macaroon balls are next on my to-do food list). Along with many other blogs and recipe sites chock-full of incredible ideas on how to use up something that would otherwise get tossed, we will not be rolling in nut pulp leftovers, but totally new and creative dishes! I chose to give you this particular recipe because it is fast, easy, and does not call for a lot of fancy ingredients.

Raw Nut Pulp Hummus is not only tasty, it is sooo healthy too. Remember back when I talked about soaking your nuts? Tee hee. Well, this recipe absolutely follows those principles, with the addition of calcium-rich tahini, alkalizing lemon, and stimulating spices.
You can use whatever nut pulp you have leftover – almond, brazil, cashew, macadamia, hazelnut, sunflower, sesame, pumpkin seed – because it will all work with the following recipe. Obviously, different nuts and seeds have different tastes, so you may need to adjust the seasonings to suit you, but I would always suggest that anyway. The amount of nut pulp the recipe calls for should be nearly exact to what you have leftover from making my version of nut milk in the video, which yields about 4 cups (1 liter) of nut milk.



Raw Nut Pulp Hummus
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup nut pulp (leftovers from making nut milk from this recipe)
1 fat clove garlic
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. water
4 Tbsp. raw tahini (or other raw nut butter)
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ tsp. crushed chilies or cayenne pepper
pinch sea salt + pepper

Directions:
1. In a food processor, pulse to mince garlic. Add everything but the nut pulp and blend until creamy.
2. With the motor running, slowly add the nut pulp a few spoonfuls at a time until you have everything well blended. If desired, add more water, one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached.
3. Serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. (Remember that the nut pulp will last for up to seven days, so make your hummus quickly after the nut milk!)

If you are not using your pulp right away, put it in the fridge in a sealed container. It will keep for about a week, so if you don’t really plan on using it by that time, you have two options to extend the pulp’s shelf-life:
• Freezing is the easiest and fastest way to carry on with your day and forget about the pulp, but you will have to take the time to defrost it prior to using it in your recipes. Put it in a plastic zipper bag, or any sealed container — of course glass is always better when freezing food.
• Dehydrating the pulp is the basis for making almond flour, which will give a finer texture to your preparations. Just spread the pulp as evenly and thinly as you feel like over a teflex dehydrator sheet or baking tray & let it become completely dry. Then pulverize it in the blender and keep in a sealed container.

I hope that you too can find some solid ideas from the many how-to-use-nut-pulp sites online. Here are a few more that I thought were really helpful and inspiring:
1. http://cafe-janae.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-to-do-with-nut-pulp.html
2. http://thedailydelights.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/discovery-what-to-do-with-almond-pulp-recipes/
3. http://emilylsnelling.hubpages.com/hub/Uses-for-Almond-Pulp
4. http://www.elanaspantry.com/vegan-almond-pulp-crackers/

Love to you all! Thanks for making nut milk and being so conscious of not wasting food. High fives all around.