Making your own Tahini?

I'd stick to the jars. I don't imagine that it's a process that works well at home.

Well let's start by getting our definitions lined up. Tahini is ground sesame seeds. It can be ground fresh sesame seeds, or it can be ground toasted sesame seeds. That's it. If you toast them, like I do, then be sure not to toast them too much, lightly browned or you get an awfully strong tahini. You end up, in either case, with very thick tahini paste. It will separate over time like old-fashioned peanut butter used to do, where the oil will rise to the top. Most commercial tahini that I've found in Middle Eastern grocery stores has to be stirred to be used, although sometimes i pour off a little bit of the sesame oil when a recipe calls for it. Anyway, back to homemade tahini. I have a nut grinder thing the wife bought to make peanut butter with, and it works ok. You can adjust the grind on it. But I've used a Vita-Mix to do my grinding usually and like the results. You could probably grind them with a mortar and pestle, but I don't know since I've never tried doing it that way.

Then there's Tahini Sauce.

I make Tahini Sauce thusly:


1/2 C Tahini
2-3 peeled raw garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lemon
S&P
touch of cumin (optional)
touch of cayenne
EVOO

Process in a food processor (actually I start by processing the garlic cloves, then add the tahini, then the rest of the ingredients).

Then I add water to get the consistency of sauce that I am looking for, not thin, not too thick. Depending on the lemons, I might add a touch more lemon juice to get the right flavor combination.

doc

What do you use to grind them in? They don't seem well suited to grinding in a food processor. It seems to me you'd need something on the order of a wheat grinder to get a fine enough pressing to completely dissolve the seed casing and cellulose. And a mortar and pestle would be an exercise in masochism to produce an useful amount.

But I've never made tahini, just bought it.

I have had good luck grinding them in my Vita Prep. As a matter of fact I am making Baba Ghanouj this week and making my own tahini. Cheaper, better, less left over.

I just grind the toasted seeds. The oil is whatever comes from the seeds as they're ground. I add nothing else.

doc