The humble chickpea makes great food

There’s no reason why you can’t make your own hummus. It’s quick and simple and is made with readily available ingredients.

But on the other hand, there’s no reason why you should make your own hummus, when the store-bought brands actually taste pretty good. The kind I prefer is Tribe, and the flavor I prefer is “classicâ€� — which means it doesn’t have  extra garlic, olives, red pepper or any other embellishments.

It’s not that I’m a purist. It’s just that, if I’m going to doctor up my hummus, I’d rather use fresh ingredients (preferably from my garden, at this time of year) in the quantities that suit my appetite.

In summer, I serve a lot of hummus, to my family and to dinner guests. It’s easy to make, it doesn’t require cooking, it’s a staple food with a reasonably long refrigerator life.

And of course it’s very, very good for you.

It’s the chickpeas that have most of the nutrients. My father and my great aunts just love chickpeas on salad, but I find them kind of watery and tasteless when they’re just straight out of the can like that. But I love them when they’ve been ground up and turned into hummus.

Hummus is, in my opinion, one of the all-time great summer foods. It is actually a very tasty side dish, and goes well with salads and with roast meats.

And you can serve it at cocktail parties as a dip for crudités, crackers and fresh bread. It doesn’t spoil in the heat.

And it is, of course, very healthy.

Chickpeas (also known as garbanzos) contain unusually large doses of molybdenum and manganese, two somewhat obscure but important minerals.

They are also a particularly good source of folate, which is especially important for pregnant women but is also believed to keep the homocysteines in your system at an optimum level. Homocysteins help your cardiovascular system to function at full power. Research is being done to see if they help prevent Parkinson’s disease and even several forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Folate also helps protect your bones and can help older people avoid bone breaks due to osteoporosis.

Folate is also believed to keep your mouth and gums healthy and to strengthen other soft tissue in your body; for this reason, folate is believed to help protect the body from cancers of the lung, cervix and intestine, especially the colon. Chickpeas can provide 70 percent of your recommended daily dose of folate.

They also have a lot of magnesium and fiber, both of which boost your heart health. And they’re a pretty good source of iron and protein but are low in fat and calories.

Invariably, when the hummus has almost disappeared from the serving plate (this usually takes less than 20 minutes) someone asks me for my recipe. At which point I (proudly, perversely) reveal that this is just grocery store hummus that’s been dressed up with a few simple extras.

I learned this recipe, such as it is, from watching the wonderfully stylish Jean-Francois Bizalion at his Great Barrington food shop (just down the road from Guido’s). In fact, I’ve never ordered this dish there, and I’m not even sure that it’s on the menu. But I’ve watched him making it (perhaps for himself and his wife and staff, perhaps for someone who’s chosen it from the extensive lunch list) and have tried to copy it at home. This is very easy to do, and always tastes fantastic.

Take a container of hummus (again, I like Tribe but you should look for one with the flavor and texture that you like). Scoop it out onto a nice plate (this hummus is a lot about the presentation, so do make an effort to find a nice serving dish, and use a spatula so that the spread looks creamy and smooth and nice.

Snip about three tablespoons of scallion (the green part only, making each piece about a quarter-inch long) on top. Sprinkle on some coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Squeeze some lemon juice on top, and drizzle some of your very best olive oil over the top.

Hummus can make a great lunch, too. Just spread it on grilled, whole-grain bread and top with rapini or beet greens or chard that has been sautéed with a little garlic and olive oil. A touch of cayenne doesn’t hurt, either.