Pantry · Flavorings

Tahini

Sesame turned into a sauce: hummus, a dressing, a drizzle, and the jar the books open in twenty kitchens.

Ground sesame paste — hulled or whole, raw or toasted · Also called tahina, sesame paste, طحينة · From The eastern Mediterranean and the wider sesame belt

A jar of tahini with the sesame oil on top and a spoonful beside it.

The journey

Tahini is what happens when sesame is not a garnish. Levantine, Ethiopian, and a dozen other kitchens in the series grind the seed into a paste that can be bitter, nutty, or almost sweet depending on the roast. Fifty-eight recipes name it. That is a pantry, not a trend.

Chinese sesame paste is a toasted cousin. Japanese neri goma is another. This page is the Levantine jar the books mean unless they say otherwise.

Public-domain botanical plate of sesame, Sesamum indicum from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, 1887. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Stir the oil back in. Thin with lemon and water for a sauce, or fold into hummus. If it tastes only bitter, the sesame was burnt or the jar is old.

A spoon on roasted vegetables is already a meal. Garlic and salt are the rest.

Healers and the table

Levantine and Ethiopian tables treated sesame paste as strengthening food. Halva and a tahini sauce are that idea.

Tahini on bread is lunch. It is not medical advice.

Traditional uses are part of the story of this spice. They are not medical advice.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

Find Tahini on Amazon