Hi all--I was in Whole Foods yesterday and wanted to buy some raw tahini for this great dressing I wanted to make. The price for a 16 oz. jar of their raw tahini was $15.99!!! Can't I just grind some sesame seeds in a grinder or blender or food processor and make my own? Or is there something I am missing to justify that steep price?.....

Thanks!

fluteye,

Yes, the raw tahini is expensive. I get mine at the local indie health food store when it's on sale. If there's an Arabic importer around you, ask if they have raw tahini paste; it should be cheaper. If you're gonna make your own, be aware that it requires a large volume of seeds and a great deal of grinding. I've tried doing it in a food processor--no dice. A coffee mill would probably do OK because it's better for fine seeds, but it would take a long time. I don't know if the motor could handle that much pulsing. My coffee grinder couldn't. A new meatgrinder might be OK, but what else would it work for? A dedicated metate? Mortar and pestle? If you have a Vita Mix or other high speed blender with a dry blade attachment, this would probably work best. Sorry if this wasn't helpful, but I was wondering about this myself a few years back, and ran these, um, "tests." Hence my purchasing tahini ready-made from the store these days! Good luck!

I make it with a Blendtec. I start with 2 cups dry sesame seeds and dry container. I use numerous cycles at speed 1, using a wooden spoon to push the side buildup into the center, until it no longer cavitates (where it mounds up around the sides and the blade whirs fruitlessly). Once it starts being blended without any intervention, then I do a few cycles at speed 5 and in about 3 it's a pretty smooth paste. Adding sesame oil may speed this process but I haven't tried it yet.

I've done the same process to make peanut butter.

I tried once soaking the sesame seeds first, it didn't go so well for some reason. It never got going on its own, never reached a fluid paste. And when I tried making my own nutella with some hazelnuts, they were wet from soaking, and likewise kind of gummed up. Maybe if they're dehydrated first.. gotta experiment some more. (wow that homemade nutella was still delicious though: 2cups hazelnuts, 6T cacao powder, 1/3 cup agave, 2 pinches salt, splash of vanilla)

rawpreston,

Raw Nutella=Genius! Thanks for this!

glad you liked the idea, let me know how it blends for you. I ended up moving it to the food processor to finish it up. to the $30 food processor from the $400 blendtec! although I'm positive a food processor could not make tahini like the blendtec. I think either drying the soaked hazelnuts first (or not soaking), or using some hazelnut oil, would have worked better. I finished my nutella in about 4 sittings so I'll be trying it again soon enough!

rawpreston,

Totally agree that it's ridiculous to go from expensive machine to cheaper machine but, it's warranted sometimes! For your "Pseudo-Nuto," I would probably start with my cheap food processor, proceed to the Champion juicer with the blank plate installed, then conclude with the cheap immersion blender. I have found, through wacky trial-and-error, that this final step with an immersion blender is invaluable for producing a truly silky nut paste. There's something about the grinding force from above that has an unmatched emulsifying effect. The trained cook in me is positively chomping at the bit to get this experiment underway. Thanks, again!

rawpreston,

Reporting back on the Pseudo-Nuto. Alas, there is no easy way to peel the skins from raw hazelnuts without blanching them in boiling water, so this resulted in a slightly, slightly grainy texture. It didn't matter how long I blended the nuts; the insoluble fiber from the skins persisted in a detectable form. I should mention that I did soak the nuts first to make them softer and also in a vain attempt to see if cold blanching might work to loosen the skins, as with raw almonds. I think that unsoaked or soaked-and-then-dried nuts might cause further problems with achieving a silken texture, but on the other hand, their fat may express faster, so it's worth a try. I think if I made this again, I'd add a bit of raw cacao butter, rather than hazelnut oil, to the mixture to help emulsify it. As it was, I added a small proportion of very thoroughly blended raw macadamia nut butter, which added noticeable suppleness and a touch of sweetness, without masking the hazelnut flavor. I think the flavor of the finished paste is fantastic: like a high-end gianduja, rather than Nutella. I think this is chiefly because, if I'm not mistaken, Nutella has powdered milk in it. There's definitely a dairy component missing from the raw recipe. Perhaps this could be remedied with the addition of cacao butter, or some more macadamia or cashew butter? It really is optional, though.

Thanks again for the recipe : )

Very interesting, thanks for the update.

I tried making it again myself, this time dehydrating the nuts after soaking, and strictly with the Blendtec. Didn't work out so well. Since I regularly make smooth tahini and have made smooth peanut butter a few times, both without addition of oil, I was optimistic about doing the same with hazelnuts, but something about them is just stubborn. My blendtec worked so hard on them they actually got pretty hot, there was steam coming out of the carafe! Next time I will use the food processor again probably. I'm ok with it not being totally smooth.

This stuff is dangerous! I just eat it straight (with a toothpick, to try to be slow), and once I start, I find it hard to stop

Cacao butter would probably make it extra outrageously good. Too bad I'm out of it from making chocolates, I need to order more.

Hi,

I was reffered to to your thread, because i came upon a similar problem when trying to make my raw nutella. Instead i got a chocolate mousse, that was not any less tasty, just not what i aimed for

Since i don't have cacao butter available here, do you guys know how i can make it on my own ?

Thanks a lot,

Eric

by the way, going to make tommorow my own experiments making raw tahini myself, will let you know how it comes out.

This recipe involves sesame seeds and a Vita-Mix. My four-years-old loves it. Proceed at your own benefit.

Tahini Dressing

1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup purified water
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove of garlic
1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 tsp Braggs

Blend until desired consistancy. Fantastic on salad with homemade sauerkraut, green leaf lettuce, lots of sprouts, cucumber, and tomato. My daughter also loves this as a dip for her veggies when she doesn't want salad.

Thanks for the recipe, hiddenfang!

try out this recipe, so delicious!!

[rawdawgrory.com]

Greenlove-

Wow, thanks for that link! Interesting- I have bought sesame seeds myself, along with purchasing tahini premade and the bitter aspect is usually present, so it's great to see that soaking the seeds will remove the after taste from them. Question- I just bought UNhulled seeds from Whole Foods bulk bin but the recipe doesn't specify which type they use. Any thoughts?

You can always get raw organic sesame seeds and grind them in a mortar and pestal. Stone crushed is always best!

Enjoy!

xoxo... Cat

Cat, should I soak them first? I do want to eliminate the bitter taste that always seems present when I have bought sesame seeds in the past.

Cat-

I soaked some organic unhulled sesame seeds overnight, attempted to put them in the Omega with the blank (it's supposed to make nut butters). It was a joke. The hulls don't cut it, man. I don't know what to do because I COULD get a brand of Middle Eastern hulled sesame seeds, but I think they use a very caustic process to get rid of the hulls. And Whole Foods only sells unhulled sesames, for some reason. Bummer...