For many, hummus is a staple in their diet. It’s healthy, tasty and versatile. Recently, Montreal and North America acquired a new delicious and very distinctive hummus under the MK label – Fontaine Santé.
The variety of products prepared by Fontaine Santé is staggering: beet hummus, garlic hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, ginger sesame hummus etc with many more varieties including a plethora of salads that will shortly become kosher. What is totally unique about this company is that every flavor is real. Meaning for example, the roasted red pepper hummus has real roasted peppers, slowly cooked in their ovens until perfectly done, seeded, peeled, and pureed to perfection, then added to the hummus.
Tastes Like Homemade
We were fortunate to take an extensive tour of the facilities lasting almost an hour and was, to say the least, an experience and eye-opener. The Fontaine Santé plant is certified FSSC-22000, which englobes HACCP and GFSI, the highest food safety certifications. All of this to say the place is most likely cleaner than your own kitchen. If our sterile garb is any indication, they will take every precaution to ensure that it stays that way.
The first thing we noticed is that it’s very cold in the plant, some rooms colder than others. We figured out that’s because of all the fresh vegetables that come in daily. As they are used immediately, refrigeration is not necessary, but a cold room is.
We saw massive crates of eggplants, peppers, garlic, tomatoes and onions. In one room, there was what can only be described as a silo from the ceiling to the floor filling most of the room. It held the chickpeas which are delivered weekly from Saskatchewan.
Our first stop was the tomato line. Crates and crates of first quality gorgeous Roma tomatoes were checked along an assembly line. Any blemish on the tomato rendered it unusable and returned to the supplier. From there, they are washed seven times and then sent to be cooked, diced or crushed depending on what they are used for.
In another room there are massive ovens that roast vegetables exactly as we do in our homes. Once cooked, each tray is labeled with a date and hour and used within a day. We kept going and reached a room where onions were being caramelized to be used as a garnish for different salads or Hummus. The smell was heavenly. It must be noted that as we went from room to room we had to stop, wash and disinfect our hands and only then move into the actual place we were going.
We saw the hummus being slowly cooked in huge vats, then gently mixed back and forth while someone added the spices, the recipe done by computer. As each batch of hummus or other salad is finished, it is packaged and sent via conveyer belt to the boxing department.
Fontaine Santé is a big player in the food business, shipping to California, all across Canada and, with their MK certification will now be in all the major kosher stores in the New York area.
The next time you buy a container of Fontaine Santé hummus know that you are getting the freshest of the fresh ingredients, made with care in the cleanest conditions possible. Enjoy!
