This week Value for Money examines five popular varieties of houmous.

Marks & Spencer Organic Houmous

€1.49 for 170g, €8.76 per kg

Highs: Many Irish people's introduction to houmous came courtesy of MS. It has been selling it for years, so it's no surprise that MS has pretty much perfected its product. It is lovely and light and filled with fresh flavours. It has a zesty, lemony taste and is not overpowered by the tahini or the garlic, although neither is entirely absent. It is organic, although we've tasted both the organic and non-organic varieties of MS houmous and could not find anything to separate them, save the price.

Lows: It does seem a fair whack to pay for what is a fairly small tub - two people would quite easily make their way through this in a single sitting.

Verdict: Lovely and fresh tasting

Star rating: ****

Tesco Houmous

€2.58 for 300g, €8.60 per kg

Highs: This has a nice, simple ingredients list and is very, very tangy, thanks, presumably, to the 3 per cent concentrated lemon juice that has been added to the mix. It comes in what we considered to be a sensibly-sized tub, is very thick and perfectly pleasant - in fact, it was so pleasant, we found we'd eaten a whole lot more of it than we'd intended.

Lows: And that is why we were so alarmed by the salt content. Tesco says that one-sixth of a tub (50g) contains 12 per cent of our GDA of salt, so we calculated we had over 30 per cent of our daily salt in a single sitting, which is definitely a concern. While Pricewatch likes the lemon flavours quite a bit, they might prove to be a bit too much for some tastes and the mild (almost non-existent) garlic flavour was another minus.

Verdict: Good stuff

Star rating: ****

Old MacDonnell's Farm Fresh Hummus

 €3.99 for 220g, €18.10 per kg

Highs: This is an Irish-made houmous that is rather splendid. There are just six ingredients and it is by a massive margin the roughest textured houmous we have ever tried, with some sizeable chunks of chickpea readily identifiable. It is beautifully fresh-tasting and the garlic, chickpea, tahini and lemon flavours coalesce wonderfully, with no one flavour dominating proceedings. It was the least salty of the options we tried and actually tastes good for you. In fact, we had to stop ourselves eating the entire pot with a spoon on the grounds that it was a little too Homer Simpson-esque for comfort.

Lows: It is very pricey, and the coarseness might come as a bit of a shock to some people.

Verdict: Gorgeous and local

Star rating: *****

Grecian Delight

€2.58 for 160g, €16.13 per kg

Highs: This was the only houmous we tried that came from Greece, so we really had high hopes for it. It was also the only one which was found on the shelf, as opposed to in a refrigerated unit, so it had a much longer lifespan. If you buy a jar today, it will keep in your cupboard until July of next year.

Lows: Maybe it isn't fair to compare this to a freshly made refrigerated product, but this is pretty horrible stuff. It has the lowest amount of chickpeas (25 per cent) by far and has the consistency of grey jelly. Its flavours don't do it any favours, either. It is sharp and unpleasant and the lingering acidic aftertaste was one we struggled to clear from our palates and memories. Rarely have we come across a product that is so misnamed. And why on earth is it so expensive?

Verdict: Grim

Star rating: *

Dunnes Stores Houmous

€1.59 for 200g, €7.95 per kg

Highs: Dunnes got lucky this week, as we happened to try this immediately after the Grecian Delight episode, so it tasted absolutely divine in comparison. It's made with 53 per cent chickpeas, all of which seem to have been fairly roughly chopped, giving it a hearty, homely texture we found appealing. It is quite lemony and pretty creamy. Critically, it was also the cheapest of the lot, which would make it the best option if you plan to serve it as a party dip where more than three people are present.

Lows: While calling it bland might be a little unfair, it does definitely lack the full, fresh flavours of some of the other (more expensive) options.

Verdict: Pretty good

Star rating: ***