Doing what it says on the tin

Last week I plucked up my courage to visit a little shop near me that sells exotic Middle Eastern foodstuffs, shisha pipes and tea sets. I don't go in very often because it's not an especially pram-friendly space and I'm a bit scared of the owner. Actually, that's not entirely true. What I'm more afraid of is that I'll come home with a tea set and my own body weight in marbled chocolate pistachio halva.

Anyway, I went in on this particular occasion because I'd forgotten to buy chickpeas further up the road and couldn't be bothered turning back. Somehow the scary proprietor talked me into buying a tin of hummus along with the chickpeas - but luckily my limited cash reserves meant that was as far as we could go.

Now, I do buy hummus from the supermarket in a little plastic tub, but mostly I'm a DIY purist because the bought stuff tastes a little weird. I was prepared to give this tinned version a go - after all, it was made in Syria, surely they know what they're on about - but the first taste was pretty vile. Then I realised I had to do what it said on the tin - add lemon juice, olive oil and cumin. For once, those 'serving suggestion' instructions made sense. I'm not sure I'll be running out to buy it again, but it was a good experiment all the same.

What's your favourite thing in a tin? What's your favourite 'serving suggestion' from a packet?

P.S If you're nervous about making your own, try this very simple (and delicious) peanut butter hummus. You'll never buy it again!