Tahini Ingredients
Curious what is in your tahini? What it is made of? If it’s vegan or not? Most of us are quite meticulous with foods we take in. Fake and non-organic food is almost every corner on earth and it’s already alarming. Plastic rice, man-made vegetables, crazy? It’s actually hilarious! No more wondering, we’ll explore what are the different tahini ingredients.
Tahini is a middle-eastern condiment. It’s a popular ingredient for your salad dressing, dipping your finger foods and crackers, or makes a twist for your favourite pasta and pastry foods. It’s not only widely used in middle-east countries, but also in Asian countries, too. In Japan, it is common for their very healthy miso soup. In Korea, it’s a popular sauce for their grilled or barbecued meat.
Tahini sauce is used for garnishing dishes, and when you go to middle-eastern countries they would often tahini in every restaurant you go to. Tahini paste is mixed with garlic, olive oil, warm water, salt, and lemon juice that’s why it has a tangy and nutty flavour. And these ingredients mix to tahini paste will eliminate the bitter taste of tahini, which it’s common taste for a sesame seed paste.
Why tahini is popular? It’s not only because it’s a super food, not only has a unique taste, not only vegan, but a good source of vitamins and mineral which your body needs. Sesame seeds are abundant in calcium and protein. It’s a good source of antioxidants, fats good for your heart, magnesium, lecithin, and phosphorus as well.
Tahini paste is a puree of sesame seeds. Unlike peanut butter, tahini isn’t as sweet as peanut butter. It tastes bitter. You can choose between hulled and unhulled tahini. An unhulled means that it’s a full ground sesame seed and it has darker in colour. While hulled tahini is lighter in colour, and isn’t fully ground or no seed covering yet. And when it comes to its taste, unhulled tastes bitter than hulled sesame seeds. Aside from that, another type of sesame seed to choose from is roasted and raw. Which you think is better?
Roasted sesame seeds are heated in a skillet or inside an oven. They are cooked until it turned golden brown in colour and aromatic. You have to keep stirring these seeds while roasting to avoid burning them. Let them cool down in a container and it’s ready to be grinded up. And raw? It’s so obvious. Raw, plain and didn’t undergo any heating process. In short, they are directly tossed inside the food processor.
If you’re asking which one tastes better? Which one is healthier? Okay. Here. Lighter colored tahini or sesame paste tastes better, BUT they have lesser nutrient compared to unhulled tahini. Health wise, unhulled is better and like what I mentioned above it is completely ground. This means that all nutrients is complete compared to hulled sesame paste. And to choose between raw and roasted, of course choose raw. Once food underwent a heating process, its nutrient wears off which means the nutrient it contains becomes lesser.
Store-bought tahinis cannot be 100% guaranteed vegan. Some manufacturers might mix them with something else. So, it’s better to make a home-made tahini paste at home. You only need sesame seed (roasted or raw), olive oil, garlic paste, lemon juice, and salt. Put all them together in a blender and mix them together. It usually comes out as a thick paste. Add warm water to adjust consistency of your healthy tahini.
Hope I helped you out there! Try making one now!
