Chummus prices in Britain rise dramatically. Blame the India drought.

( JTA ) — When India has a drought, hummus prices in Britain suffer. Insufficient rains in India have led to several years of a reduced chickpea harvest, The New York Times reported Thursday. Chickpeas are the main ingredient in hummus. India, the world’s largest chickpea producer, uses most of its yield for domestic consumption, but because of the poor harvests it has had to buy its chickpeas from growers in other countries, making them scarcer and driving up the price of the modest legume. Average prices for hummus at British supermarkets have risen 12 percent over the previous year, The Times reported, citing the trade magazine The Grocer, despite general grocery price inflation of 3.6 percent. That’s in part because of the limited supply of chickpeas, but also because of the rising dem