January 19, 2023 • 28 mins
The simplicity of this sesame seed paste belies the depth of flavor and texture it brings to everything it touches. Anney and Lauren dip into the science and history of tahini.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to save you a production of iHeart Radio.
I'm Anny Rees and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about tahini. Mm hmmm. Yes,
any reason this moves on your mind? Oh? Was there? Uh?
Because this question comes almost every time, and every time
you're kind of like, I'm like, well, I'm like, oh heck,
(00:32):
I'm surprised by this question. Um yeah, I think that
I've been thinking about bob Ganos because it's so good. Um,
and I went to I went to a wedding last Octodetober.
Mm hmm. I think it could have been um uh
(00:53):
that had this lovely spread. The bride um is Egyptian
and they had this lovely spread of like just the
best hummus and babacandition all of these beautiful things. And
I'm like still craving that particular hummis. Yeah, yeah, doing
this when I my grocery list got updated with a
(01:15):
couple of it. Oh yeah, I gotta get that. I
gotta get that. Um, I've had too much tahini in
my day. I've definitely had it, but I'm looking to
change that. Yeah. Yeah, Like straight, I don't think I've
ever had it. I don't think I've ever cooked with
it myself. I do have a can in my cupboard.
Uh so, yeah, I mean it's time. It's it's past time,
(01:41):
it's past time. You're right, I can't help but think
every time I think of Tahini. First of all, you
Teeny from Star Wars and New Hope, which is how
the Jaw was particularly communicate. Okay, very similar. Also most
not the Korean movie, but the one about Zoom or
(02:04):
what that was based on Zoom that came out during
the pandemic. There's a line in there about Tahini and
I don't know why, but it always kind of stuck
out to me because they were trying to guess what
the woman who was leading their seance had ordered for delivery,
and they said jar of Tahini. And I always thought
that was kind of kind of interesting. Interesting, Yes, but hey, delicious,
(02:28):
it sounds cool. Uh. Deep cut horror fact of the episode. Yeah,
Well it's Friday, and you know we love our deep
cut horror facts. We do. Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, Um
(02:50):
you can see our Sesame Seed episode for more information
about this topic. Sure. Um. Also, we have done an
episode on hamas um and schwarm vaguely related. Sure m hmm, yeah, well,
I guess that brings us to our question. I guess
it does. What is it? Well? Uh, Tahini is a smooth,
(03:17):
rich paste made from grinding sesame seeds that have usually
been holed and toasted. It's a it's sesame butter, sometimes
made with a bit of extra oil to like loosen
up the texture, maybe a pinch of salt. It's it's
a really simple, basic ingredient that, like other nut and
seed butters, can add so much flavor to dishes and
(03:38):
and body to sauces um. Used in both savory and
sweet applications. Um, it's it's buttery and in a little roasty,
toasty and mildly nutty, like a little bit better sweet.
It's like if it's like a peanut butter, we're living
up to its full potential. It feels kind of like
(04:01):
a peanut butter burn but all out. Yeah, it's like,
um it's. It's. It's like like a wear's waldo of
an ingredient, Like like, oh, what is that? Lovely note?
I can't quite put my finger on it, but it
was right there waving at you. The whole time, just
like your jar of tahinie just waiting, just waiting for
(04:23):
you to find it. Yes, uh so so yes for
like a basically one ingredient thing. Um. Sesame seeds. Again,
we have already done an episode on this and see
that for more. But um, but they are sesame seeds
are the we oily seeds of the sesame plant. Um.
They have a thin hule which you can blanch or
(04:43):
otherwise process them to remove. I know how much you
love blanching um uh um and uh and that will
leave you with a with a small cream colored seed.
Sesame seeds do also come in darker colors, but white
ones are usually used for tahini. Al heat to these
seeds will deepen their color a bit, bring out their
nutty flavor a little. Um. They're already really buttery and
(05:06):
a little sweet with a with a nice balance of bitterness.
So they're one of those things that like, if you
just don't mess them up, they're they're already great. Um.
And they are a very oily seed, like thirty six
percent oil by weight. Um. So you can sometimes curate
them all by themselves and wind up with a really
nice textured paste. Additional oil can help that it out,
(05:27):
making it more spreadable, or even pourrible salt can help
bring out the flavor. But yeah, just simple tahini. Yeah,
I love it. Um. It is the second half of
what makes hamas hamas, the first half being chickpeas, and
the full name for for hemis around the levant where
these things are from is Hamas b tahini, meaning chick
(05:49):
peas and tahini. Tahini is also a key ingredient in
the aforementioned babo ganouche, which is edg plant dip, and
some kinds of huliva, which is a candy. Um. But
it can be used in all kinds of things um
as a seasoning for roasted vegetables or meat, um in
other sauces and dips, and dressings in soups and stews,
in other candies and baked goods and ice cream. Um.
(06:11):
I've seen recipes suggesting it as a vegan substitute for
things like like butter or mayonnaise and recipes huh. I
saw some people recommending it in like a you know,
tahini and jelly sandwich as supposed to jelly sandwich. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
because it doesn't usually have added sugar. Um. It can
(06:31):
be a really nice alternative if you're a little bit
over the sweetness of of peanut butters. Yeah. Um. But
it is also particularly useful because it's a natural emulsifier um,
meaning it helps it helps oils and water play nice
with each other. Okay um. So like it's great for
binding and thickening things like salad dressings or soups, or
(06:56):
even like mashed potatoes. Yeah. Sometimes sometimes they get a
little bit runny, like a little bit of tahini could
could help even it out. Um. Tachiny is an emtifier
because although it's mostly made of oils and proteins and
fibers and has very little water, it does contain particles
that can link up with oils on one end and
water on the other, um, thereby helping the to disperse
(07:19):
evenly throughout each other. Um. It behaves a little oddly
when you add water, though, um like because it's mostly
fats and stuff, Adding a little bit of water will
make it turn thicker or or even like kind of
dry and clumpy at first, because the water molecules are
(07:39):
clumping together. Um. As you add more water, you eventually
hit the point where there's more water than there are fats,
and so therefore the fats redistribute themselves and float in
the water and it'll loosen up into a nice, smooth fluid.
Tachini is a non Newtonian fluid, so like catchup or
(08:01):
like wet coffee grounds or something like that. It can
really lock up when you apply certain kinds of stress,
which basically just means like stirt gently be kind with tahini. Yeah,
why don't it do to you? Come on, you don't
need to stress tahini out. No no, um And and furthermore,
(08:23):
Um Taste Magazine offered the sage advice that that because
of this property, if you ever fall into a vat
of tahini, treat it like quicksand you know, don't struggle.
That will only make it lock up around you. You know,
like like relax and you'll and you'll float to the top.
This is very good survival advice. Also sounds like somebody
had a nightmare once I got to write this out.
(08:51):
But yes, we are ostensibly a food show. Um. These days,
tahini is produced and sold at an industrial level with
some different intended purposes and added ingredients to to play
with the texture and the flavor you know, um uh,
all kinds of I mean, you know from from like
garlic or or pepper tahini. Um, like five seed tiny
(09:13):
with with with flax and sunflower and pumpkin and chia
seeds added in um, dark chocolate se salt tahini, I
don't know, Um, tahini in a squeeze bottle. Yeah. Wow,
all kinds of things going on. Okay, Well, what about
the nutrition. Tahini is nutritionally dense. Um. It contains a
lot of mostly good fats as well as a punch
(09:36):
of protein um, some fiber, good spattering of minerals and
other micronutrients. You know, like it'll help fill you up
in and keep you going. Um. But you know a
pair it with a vegetable Yeah yeah yeah um. And
it gets brought up a lot in terms of like
like like Mediterranean diet advice or UM or some of
(09:59):
the like like like plant based food health trends that
we see. I will say that most research that's been
done on sesame products has been done on sesame oil
or sesame extracts UM. But some research has shown that
that incorporating tahini into your diet as like a substitute
for less healthy snacks and ingredients. UMU has has been
(10:22):
shown to possibly make a good difference. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah,
we do have some numbers for you. So per capita,
the Chinese consume the most sesame seeds in the world,
followed by the Israelis. But when it comes to prepared,
prepackaged tahini specifically UM, Turkey consumes the most, followed by Israel, Iran, Jordans,
(10:48):
Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. UM. And yes, the event is
responsible for like eight eight percent of global demand of tahini. Yeah,
but that is shifting a little bit um. As of one,
the global tahini market was worth some one point eight
billion dollars a year UM, which is almost double what
(11:11):
it was circ um and it's expected to grow by
another billion in the next decade or so. The the
continued spread of cuisines from these areas uh plus right,
the aforementioned trends and plant based foods UM and also
in ready to eat foods UM is credited for these games. Yeah. Yeah,
(11:35):
I mean it was in a horror movie from the UK.
That movie was based I believe, Okay, all right, I
still haven't seen it. I'm still not sure. I'm still
not sure that I'm ready to like watch a zoom
based horror movie. I don't think I'm not changed like
this whole I'm telling you I've been in zoom meetings
(11:57):
or I'll be like, oh no, I'm so nervous. But
I like it because it's they don't have the you know,
fancy version, so it's only fifty five minutes or whatever
that time limit is keep popping up and it's a
nice little like our bite. You know, if you don't
have time to watch a whole movie, you have time
to watch an hour maybe, but that's just be perhaps WHOA.
(12:24):
We do have some history for you, we do, and
we are going to get into that as soon as
we get back from a quick break. For a word
from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
thank you. So as per usual, I couldn't find as
(12:47):
much as I wanted to with this one because I
think a lot of that information didn't get recorded or
is it on English Google. So it's unfortunate it bothers me.
But if if listeners, if you have any more information
and as always resources, please let us know. Also, there
are a lot of side quest like Babic ganooche. I
(13:09):
was like, this is a separate thy Yeah. Yeah, so
so just to keep that, keep that in mind. UM.
In a quick recap, sesame seeds are ancient and perhaps
one of humanities first cultivated crops. It was being cultivated
in India by five thousand BC. UM, and these seeds
are thought to have originated in the Indian subcontinent, but
(13:32):
there is still academic debate around that topic. UM. I
love it. As far back as four thousand years ago,
ancient Babylonians and Assyrians were using sesame seeds for all
kinds of things, including oil, perhaps primarily oil. UM, and
as far back as three thousand, five hundred BC they
were they were being used in oil these seeds when
(13:53):
ancient cuneiforms referenced sesame seeds and all the uses for them,
particularly serving the Egyptian gods sesame wine, so this was them,
particularly in Egypt. Though yes the use was mainly for
the oil, they were also used medicinally. The seeds reprised
because they could grow where most things died or couldn't grow,
(14:15):
and this has been a huge part of their story.
According to some sources, Tahini is almost as old as
sesame seeds in the regions that they originated and a
few places. But the first mention of tahini as a
culinary ingredient a ground sesame paste um to a thirteen
century Iracky cookbook, though many think it was around much longer,
(14:38):
and that's one of those things to me that just
makes sense longer than that um And in this mention
it was as an ingredient for hummus casa uh. And
the word tahini comes from from an Arabic verbf for
crushing or grinding, so makes sense. Yep. The Ottoman Empire
(14:59):
spread and helped popularize sesame seeds and tahini, and that
was an accidental pun and it kind of cracked me
up during the fourteenth century and beyond uh and as
its spread it has become part of dishes all over
the world. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, African, Iranian, Turkish, and Middle
Eastern dishes used tahini, and that's just to name a few.
(15:22):
For many places, sesame seeds were quite expensive and so
sesame seeds and tahini were more of a rich people thing.
I even read that at some point in some regions
tahini may have been used as currency, but I wasn't
really able to get to the bottom of that. It
was reported in a few places, so I thought I'd
mentioned it. But you know, grain of salt, Yeah yeah,
(15:44):
grain of sesame sesame UM. As mentioned in our sesame
seed episode, enslaved people also brought sesame seeds to the
US UM and they were called benny seeds or just
benny um. The word tahini didn't appear in English until
the nineteen thirties, and I couldn't find a great source
(16:07):
for this, but a lot of things I read claimed
that tahini started appearing in health stores in the US
in the nineteen forties. Um U s immigration reforms passed
in the nineteen sixties that opened the doors for more
Arab and Asian immigrants to come to the country, and
with them came their cuisine and things like Middle Eastern
(16:29):
restaurants and markets started popping up across the country UM
and many of them offered tahini. UH. Skipping ahead to
the present day, UH, I wanted to talk about a
tahini controversy UM that cropped up in the summer of when.
Okay follow with me. Now, UM this this Palestinian tahini
(16:52):
producer who who lives and runs her business in Israel,
partnered with an Israeli lgbt KEY organization to start a
support hotline for queer Palestinians living in Israel. Okay, this company,
um l Ours makes like twenty to twenty five tons
(17:12):
of tahini a day, so they are a major brand,
like all over grocery stores there. They export to eighteen
countries including here. Um So, so this is kind of
a big deal, and I wanted to mention this because well, okay, like,
it's an interesting story, but also it demonstrates how food
gets involved in these cultural and and colonial clashes. Um
(17:37):
like Like. There were some conservatives who got mad at
the brand for for for pairing with an lgbt Q
organization at all, but a deeper controversy came when some
Palestinians thought that the owner of the company should have
instead supported an existing Palestinian lgbt Q hotline um like,
especially because they're concerned that this is just part of
(18:00):
Israel trying to direct attention away from like broader human
rights violations against Palestinians. Um It's It's also interesting because
it demonstrates once again the connections that exist between food
and especially traditional foods, UM and activism and shows the
progressiveness that's flourishing and in parts of these communities that
(18:23):
have been considered conservative. Yeah yeah, um it is. It
is one of those things where it's a It shows
how food is so much more than just food. And
I think people who listen to the show know that, um,
but for for some sometimes it's just easy to forget that.
(18:44):
I guess. So, yeah, this is really an interesting story
and look at that. Yeah. Uh. Also, a shop that
is billed as the world's first tahini boutique opened in
Istanbul and are Um. The the idea here is they
have different types of sesame seeds from like fourteen different
(19:07):
countries and you can choose your seeds and other flavorings
and they will create your bespoke tahini fresh in front
of you. UM. It also features a cafe with like
chocolates and macarons and latte's and fancy pastries that all
featured tahini. UM. I was like, I was like trawling
their Facebook and I watched this video that they posted
(19:30):
um back in December that was like set to jingle
bell rock and it featured that the making of and
cross section of this this Broodolph themed like filled, multi
tiered mini cake. It was really really amazing. Just yeah
uh uh yeah. The place is called simply the levant
(19:52):
um and and the team said at the time that
they were looking to open a second location in Beverly Hills.
So wow, okay, well I love this. I wasn't expecting it,
but I love it. And as we've been mentioning throughout,
(20:13):
tahini has seen a massive upswing in Western countries in
recent years. Um, there are all sorts of artist neal
tahinis like this flavored tahini's pretty much whatever you can imagine.
You can buy tahini and tahini seasonings in most grocery
stores here in the US, for example, UM, I might
(20:33):
look for tahiny seasonings. I'm kind of like, huh, but oh,
I'll keep an eye out for that. Yeah. Yeah. I
obtained mine from one of one of the organizations that
I volunteered for, has a food pantry, and we got
this just like massive drop off of um Sephardic Jewish
(20:56):
uh foods, like packaged foods, and so there's just there
was just this massive amount of tahini, and I was like,
I've never had a can of tahini before. Let's see
what that's about. Yeah, well you'll have to report back.
You're seeing what it's about. I I know now to
start slowly, so yes, do not stress out. Your tahini
(21:20):
will not be happy to hear that. That's what you do, well, listeners,
If you have any uses for tachini recipes, for tachiny
experiences with tahini, we would love to hear them. We would.
We do have some listener mail already prepared for you though. Um.
It has been stirred slowly and we are going to
get into that as soon as we get back from
(21:41):
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors.
We're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're
back with stirred slowly. Yeah, no stress, no stress, no,
(22:09):
all right. Bart wrote loved the Panatona show. I love
the stuff before I listened, and now I love it
even more. We discovered it in a most unusual way,
but it's become a real treat in our house now.
I'm a Belgian living in Ireland and married to an
amazing irishman. We both have very strong, crusty and taste
memories of our childhood Christmases, but of very different things.
(22:32):
For me it's speculus delicious lightly spiced biscuits doled out
by sincer Claus st Nick, and for him it's traditional
Irish minced pies, many short bread pies filled with minced
and spiced dried fruit, and Christmas Cake, very rich and
dense spiced fruitcake. A few years into our relationship we
discovered my darling beloved has Celiac disease, so we've been
(22:55):
living gluten free for over a decade now. In the
early years it was a real slog to find dec
gluten free food, but that's just not a problem anymore
for the day to day stuff, but once a year
at Christmas, we remember how limiting it can be. Um.
The Irish Christmas stuff is all very dense and doesn't
really depend on gluten's air pockets, so it's probably not
(23:16):
a surprise that there are now gluten free mince pies
and Christmas cakes that even the most refined palette couldn't
distinguish from the glutenous original. But the Belgian stuff that
proved more of a problem. When the German supermarkets like
Legal came to Ireland and added gluten free ranges. We
didn't get my Belgium stuff, but we did get other
European Christmas treats, including gluten free panatone. Neither of us
(23:39):
had ever had it before, but the first time I
cut into one, warmed it slightly in the microwave, and
spread some real butter on it, we both fell in love. Similarly,
German specialty goods makers Share introduced us to Lamb, a cucin,
which we both also now love. Also, there's a happy epilogue.
Both Share and Legal now did luten free Speculus. So
(24:01):
because Celiac disease forced us to broaden our horizons, we
now feel truly European at Christmas time as we enjoyed Speculus,
minced pies, Christmas cake, Levi Cukin, and Panatone. Anyway, if
you're looking around for some Christmas eat topics for next year,
how about Speculus are leve cukin. Okay, first of all,
(24:22):
part this is lovely. Thank you for sharing, and I
very very much apologize if I butchered all of those pronunciations.
I gave it a solid effort. I looked up some stuff,
but yeah, that was a roller coaster. That was a
roller coaster of pronunciation. Um, but thank you for coming
along with me being supportive during this time. Uh oh,
(24:47):
but but all of that does sound delightful. Thank you
for the tips. Uh, there's there's a there there, there's
a little in um at least at least one in Atlanta. Now, um,
I've been meaning to go o yeah safor savor field
trip that is much more easily accomplished than a lot
of our other fields trips on our list. Yes, this
(25:11):
is great, and I'm glad that you are able to
find more luten free options around the holidays. Now, I'm
glad that you discovered Hannah toone and loved it. Um,
this is all all amazing, and yes we have added
those topics too. Are admittedly massive list, but they're on there.
(25:32):
It's completely overwhelming, but they're but they're on there. Yeah, yeah,
yes they are. Yes they are how He's wrote, absolutely
love your show, you guys make the work day zip
by all right, onto the ranch l O l okay,
I know l O L but I hate ranch too,
And I just got the Rick and Morty cookbook and
(25:53):
thought I would try it out. We're gonna make the
pickle Rick pickles later today, and wow, I was not
stout at all. I think it might be the aquafaba
instead of eggs, but I'm no scientist. Try if you dare,
ps um, if the idea of ranch is still absolutely terrible,
we sent along our spicy candied maple bacon recipe and
(26:15):
our pair custard pie recipe too. Oh yeah, we love recipes,
you know that. Just a clarification. This email came with
like the subject line we got to talk about ranch.
No oh no oh no um. And it came attached with,
(26:35):
uh with this recipe from the Rick and Morty cookbook,
which is apparently a thing. Um and uh. And the
recipe is titled Rigy Rigty Ranch um and uh and
yeah it's it's a version of of ranch made with
(26:56):
aquafaba and cream of trder and some Dijon mustard as
the texturizers. Um, in order to create that like that
like kind of creamy mouth feel without having to um
to use eggs. So fascinating. That is fascinating. Also fascinating
is it makes three cups of dressing. I guess if
(27:17):
you if you like ranch, or at a party, it
could go fast. I don't absolutely. Yeah, that does seem
that does seem like quite a bit of dressing. But
it does. But I guess that's like about what would
be in like a large bottle. It's party sized. It
is party sized, and you know Rick and or Morty
(27:37):
would want us to have a party. I suppose, So
I suppose we can't argue with that logic. WHOA, maybe
one day I'll give it to go. Maybe one day
I'll give it to go. Um. Thank you as always
listeners for writing in. If you would like to write
to us that you can our emails hello at favor
pot dot com. We're also on social media. You can
(27:58):
find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor pod
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, you can visit the i Heart Radio
app Apple Podcasts, where wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to save you a production of iHeart Radio.
I'm Anny Rees and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about tahini. Mm hmmm. Yes,
any reason this moves on your mind? Oh? Was there? Uh?
Because this question comes almost every time, and every time
you're kind of like, I'm like, well, I'm like, oh heck,
(00:32):
I'm surprised by this question. Um yeah, I think that
I've been thinking about bob Ganos because it's so good. Um,
and I went to I went to a wedding last Octodetober.
Mm hmm. I think it could have been um uh
(00:53):
that had this lovely spread. The bride um is Egyptian
and they had this lovely spread of like just the
best hummus and babacandition all of these beautiful things. And
I'm like still craving that particular hummis. Yeah, yeah, doing
this when I my grocery list got updated with a
(01:15):
couple of it. Oh yeah, I gotta get that. I
gotta get that. Um, I've had too much tahini in
my day. I've definitely had it, but I'm looking to
change that. Yeah. Yeah, Like straight, I don't think I've
ever had it. I don't think I've ever cooked with
it myself. I do have a can in my cupboard.
Uh so, yeah, I mean it's time. It's it's past time,
(01:41):
it's past time. You're right, I can't help but think
every time I think of Tahini. First of all, you
Teeny from Star Wars and New Hope, which is how
the Jaw was particularly communicate. Okay, very similar. Also most
not the Korean movie, but the one about Zoom or
(02:04):
what that was based on Zoom that came out during
the pandemic. There's a line in there about Tahini and
I don't know why, but it always kind of stuck
out to me because they were trying to guess what
the woman who was leading their seance had ordered for delivery,
and they said jar of Tahini. And I always thought
that was kind of kind of interesting. Interesting, Yes, but hey, delicious,
(02:28):
it sounds cool. Uh. Deep cut horror fact of the episode. Yeah,
Well it's Friday, and you know we love our deep
cut horror facts. We do. Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, Um
(02:50):
you can see our Sesame Seed episode for more information
about this topic. Sure. Um. Also, we have done an
episode on hamas um and schwarm vaguely related. Sure m hmm, yeah, well,
I guess that brings us to our question. I guess
it does. What is it? Well? Uh, Tahini is a smooth,
(03:17):
rich paste made from grinding sesame seeds that have usually
been holed and toasted. It's a it's sesame butter, sometimes
made with a bit of extra oil to like loosen
up the texture, maybe a pinch of salt. It's it's
a really simple, basic ingredient that, like other nut and
seed butters, can add so much flavor to dishes and
(03:38):
and body to sauces um. Used in both savory and
sweet applications. Um, it's it's buttery and in a little roasty,
toasty and mildly nutty, like a little bit better sweet.
It's like if it's like a peanut butter, we're living
up to its full potential. It feels kind of like
(04:01):
a peanut butter burn but all out. Yeah, it's like,
um it's. It's. It's like like a wear's waldo of
an ingredient, Like like, oh, what is that? Lovely note?
I can't quite put my finger on it, but it
was right there waving at you. The whole time, just
like your jar of tahinie just waiting, just waiting for
(04:23):
you to find it. Yes, uh so so yes for
like a basically one ingredient thing. Um. Sesame seeds. Again,
we have already done an episode on this and see
that for more. But um, but they are sesame seeds
are the we oily seeds of the sesame plant. Um.
They have a thin hule which you can blanch or
(04:43):
otherwise process them to remove. I know how much you
love blanching um uh um and uh and that will
leave you with a with a small cream colored seed.
Sesame seeds do also come in darker colors, but white
ones are usually used for tahini. Al heat to these
seeds will deepen their color a bit, bring out their
nutty flavor a little. Um. They're already really buttery and
(05:06):
a little sweet with a with a nice balance of bitterness.
So they're one of those things that like, if you
just don't mess them up, they're they're already great. Um.
And they are a very oily seed, like thirty six
percent oil by weight. Um. So you can sometimes curate
them all by themselves and wind up with a really
nice textured paste. Additional oil can help that it out,
(05:27):
making it more spreadable, or even pourrible salt can help
bring out the flavor. But yeah, just simple tahini. Yeah,
I love it. Um. It is the second half of
what makes hamas hamas, the first half being chickpeas, and
the full name for for hemis around the levant where
these things are from is Hamas b tahini, meaning chick
(05:49):
peas and tahini. Tahini is also a key ingredient in
the aforementioned babo ganouche, which is edg plant dip, and
some kinds of huliva, which is a candy. Um. But
it can be used in all kinds of things um
as a seasoning for roasted vegetables or meat, um in
other sauces and dips, and dressings in soups and stews,
in other candies and baked goods and ice cream. Um.
(06:11):
I've seen recipes suggesting it as a vegan substitute for
things like like butter or mayonnaise and recipes huh. I
saw some people recommending it in like a you know,
tahini and jelly sandwich as supposed to jelly sandwich. Yeah, absolutely, yeah,
because it doesn't usually have added sugar. Um. It can
(06:31):
be a really nice alternative if you're a little bit
over the sweetness of of peanut butters. Yeah. Um. But
it is also particularly useful because it's a natural emulsifier um,
meaning it helps it helps oils and water play nice
with each other. Okay um. So like it's great for
binding and thickening things like salad dressings or soups, or
(06:56):
even like mashed potatoes. Yeah. Sometimes sometimes they get a
little bit runny, like a little bit of tahini could
could help even it out. Um. Tachiny is an emtifier
because although it's mostly made of oils and proteins and
fibers and has very little water, it does contain particles
that can link up with oils on one end and
water on the other, um, thereby helping the to disperse
(07:19):
evenly throughout each other. Um. It behaves a little oddly
when you add water, though, um like because it's mostly
fats and stuff, Adding a little bit of water will
make it turn thicker or or even like kind of
dry and clumpy at first, because the water molecules are
(07:39):
clumping together. Um. As you add more water, you eventually
hit the point where there's more water than there are fats,
and so therefore the fats redistribute themselves and float in
the water and it'll loosen up into a nice, smooth fluid.
Tachini is a non Newtonian fluid, so like catchup or
(08:01):
like wet coffee grounds or something like that. It can
really lock up when you apply certain kinds of stress,
which basically just means like stirt gently be kind with tahini. Yeah,
why don't it do to you? Come on, you don't
need to stress tahini out. No no, um And and furthermore,
(08:23):
Um Taste Magazine offered the sage advice that that because
of this property, if you ever fall into a vat
of tahini, treat it like quicksand you know, don't struggle.
That will only make it lock up around you. You know,
like like relax and you'll and you'll float to the top.
This is very good survival advice. Also sounds like somebody
had a nightmare once I got to write this out.
(08:51):
But yes, we are ostensibly a food show. Um. These days,
tahini is produced and sold at an industrial level with
some different intended purposes and added ingredients to to play
with the texture and the flavor you know, um uh,
all kinds of I mean, you know from from like
garlic or or pepper tahini. Um, like five seed tiny
(09:13):
with with with flax and sunflower and pumpkin and chia
seeds added in um, dark chocolate se salt tahini, I
don't know, Um, tahini in a squeeze bottle. Yeah. Wow,
all kinds of things going on. Okay, Well, what about
the nutrition. Tahini is nutritionally dense. Um. It contains a
lot of mostly good fats as well as a punch
(09:36):
of protein um, some fiber, good spattering of minerals and
other micronutrients. You know, like it'll help fill you up
in and keep you going. Um. But you know a
pair it with a vegetable Yeah yeah yeah um. And
it gets brought up a lot in terms of like
like like Mediterranean diet advice or UM or some of
(09:59):
the like like like plant based food health trends that
we see. I will say that most research that's been
done on sesame products has been done on sesame oil
or sesame extracts UM. But some research has shown that
that incorporating tahini into your diet as like a substitute
for less healthy snacks and ingredients. UMU has has been
(10:22):
shown to possibly make a good difference. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah,
we do have some numbers for you. So per capita,
the Chinese consume the most sesame seeds in the world,
followed by the Israelis. But when it comes to prepared,
prepackaged tahini specifically UM, Turkey consumes the most, followed by Israel, Iran, Jordans,
(10:48):
Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. UM. And yes, the event is
responsible for like eight eight percent of global demand of tahini. Yeah,
but that is shifting a little bit um. As of one,
the global tahini market was worth some one point eight
billion dollars a year UM, which is almost double what
(11:11):
it was circ um and it's expected to grow by
another billion in the next decade or so. The the
continued spread of cuisines from these areas uh plus right,
the aforementioned trends and plant based foods UM and also
in ready to eat foods UM is credited for these games. Yeah. Yeah,
(11:35):
I mean it was in a horror movie from the UK.
That movie was based I believe, Okay, all right, I
still haven't seen it. I'm still not sure. I'm still
not sure that I'm ready to like watch a zoom
based horror movie. I don't think I'm not changed like
this whole I'm telling you I've been in zoom meetings
(11:57):
or I'll be like, oh no, I'm so nervous. But
I like it because it's they don't have the you know,
fancy version, so it's only fifty five minutes or whatever
that time limit is keep popping up and it's a
nice little like our bite. You know, if you don't
have time to watch a whole movie, you have time
to watch an hour maybe, but that's just be perhaps WHOA.
(12:24):
We do have some history for you, we do, and
we are going to get into that as soon as
we get back from a quick break. For a word
from our sponsors, and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
thank you. So as per usual, I couldn't find as
(12:47):
much as I wanted to with this one because I
think a lot of that information didn't get recorded or
is it on English Google. So it's unfortunate it bothers me.
But if if listeners, if you have any more information
and as always resources, please let us know. Also, there
are a lot of side quest like Babic ganooche. I
(13:09):
was like, this is a separate thy Yeah. Yeah, so
so just to keep that, keep that in mind. UM.
In a quick recap, sesame seeds are ancient and perhaps
one of humanities first cultivated crops. It was being cultivated
in India by five thousand BC. UM, and these seeds
are thought to have originated in the Indian subcontinent, but
(13:32):
there is still academic debate around that topic. UM. I
love it. As far back as four thousand years ago,
ancient Babylonians and Assyrians were using sesame seeds for all
kinds of things, including oil, perhaps primarily oil. UM, and
as far back as three thousand, five hundred BC they
were they were being used in oil these seeds when
(13:53):
ancient cuneiforms referenced sesame seeds and all the uses for them,
particularly serving the Egyptian gods sesame wine, so this was them,
particularly in Egypt. Though yes the use was mainly for
the oil, they were also used medicinally. The seeds reprised
because they could grow where most things died or couldn't grow,
(14:15):
and this has been a huge part of their story.
According to some sources, Tahini is almost as old as
sesame seeds in the regions that they originated and a
few places. But the first mention of tahini as a
culinary ingredient a ground sesame paste um to a thirteen
century Iracky cookbook, though many think it was around much longer,
(14:38):
and that's one of those things to me that just
makes sense longer than that um And in this mention
it was as an ingredient for hummus casa uh. And
the word tahini comes from from an Arabic verbf for
crushing or grinding, so makes sense. Yep. The Ottoman Empire
(14:59):
spread and helped popularize sesame seeds and tahini, and that
was an accidental pun and it kind of cracked me
up during the fourteenth century and beyond uh and as
its spread it has become part of dishes all over
the world. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, African, Iranian, Turkish, and Middle
Eastern dishes used tahini, and that's just to name a few.
(15:22):
For many places, sesame seeds were quite expensive and so
sesame seeds and tahini were more of a rich people thing.
I even read that at some point in some regions
tahini may have been used as currency, but I wasn't
really able to get to the bottom of that. It
was reported in a few places, so I thought I'd
mentioned it. But you know, grain of salt, Yeah yeah,
(15:44):
grain of sesame sesame UM. As mentioned in our sesame
seed episode, enslaved people also brought sesame seeds to the
US UM and they were called benny seeds or just
benny um. The word tahini didn't appear in English until
the nineteen thirties, and I couldn't find a great source
(16:07):
for this, but a lot of things I read claimed
that tahini started appearing in health stores in the US
in the nineteen forties. Um U s immigration reforms passed
in the nineteen sixties that opened the doors for more
Arab and Asian immigrants to come to the country, and
with them came their cuisine and things like Middle Eastern
(16:29):
restaurants and markets started popping up across the country UM
and many of them offered tahini. UH. Skipping ahead to
the present day, UH, I wanted to talk about a
tahini controversy UM that cropped up in the summer of when.
Okay follow with me. Now, UM this this Palestinian tahini
(16:52):
producer who who lives and runs her business in Israel,
partnered with an Israeli lgbt KEY organization to start a
support hotline for queer Palestinians living in Israel. Okay, this company,
um l Ours makes like twenty to twenty five tons
(17:12):
of tahini a day, so they are a major brand,
like all over grocery stores there. They export to eighteen
countries including here. Um So, so this is kind of
a big deal, and I wanted to mention this because well, okay, like,
it's an interesting story, but also it demonstrates how food
gets involved in these cultural and and colonial clashes. Um
(17:37):
like Like. There were some conservatives who got mad at
the brand for for for pairing with an lgbt Q
organization at all, but a deeper controversy came when some
Palestinians thought that the owner of the company should have
instead supported an existing Palestinian lgbt Q hotline um like,
especially because they're concerned that this is just part of
(18:00):
Israel trying to direct attention away from like broader human
rights violations against Palestinians. Um It's It's also interesting because
it demonstrates once again the connections that exist between food
and especially traditional foods, UM and activism and shows the
progressiveness that's flourishing and in parts of these communities that
(18:23):
have been considered conservative. Yeah yeah, um it is. It
is one of those things where it's a It shows
how food is so much more than just food. And
I think people who listen to the show know that, um,
but for for some sometimes it's just easy to forget that.
(18:44):
I guess. So, yeah, this is really an interesting story
and look at that. Yeah. Uh. Also, a shop that
is billed as the world's first tahini boutique opened in
Istanbul and are Um. The the idea here is they
have different types of sesame seeds from like fourteen different
(19:07):
countries and you can choose your seeds and other flavorings
and they will create your bespoke tahini fresh in front
of you. UM. It also features a cafe with like
chocolates and macarons and latte's and fancy pastries that all
featured tahini. UM. I was like, I was like trawling
their Facebook and I watched this video that they posted
(19:30):
um back in December that was like set to jingle
bell rock and it featured that the making of and
cross section of this this Broodolph themed like filled, multi
tiered mini cake. It was really really amazing. Just yeah
uh uh yeah. The place is called simply the levant
(19:52):
um and and the team said at the time that
they were looking to open a second location in Beverly Hills.
So wow, okay, well I love this. I wasn't expecting it,
but I love it. And as we've been mentioning throughout,
(20:13):
tahini has seen a massive upswing in Western countries in
recent years. Um, there are all sorts of artist neal
tahinis like this flavored tahini's pretty much whatever you can imagine.
You can buy tahini and tahini seasonings in most grocery
stores here in the US, for example, UM, I might
(20:33):
look for tahiny seasonings. I'm kind of like, huh, but oh,
I'll keep an eye out for that. Yeah. Yeah. I
obtained mine from one of one of the organizations that
I volunteered for, has a food pantry, and we got
this just like massive drop off of um Sephardic Jewish
(20:56):
uh foods, like packaged foods, and so there's just there
was just this massive amount of tahini, and I was like,
I've never had a can of tahini before. Let's see
what that's about. Yeah, well you'll have to report back.
You're seeing what it's about. I I know now to
start slowly, so yes, do not stress out. Your tahini
(21:20):
will not be happy to hear that. That's what you do, well, listeners,
If you have any uses for tachini recipes, for tachiny
experiences with tahini, we would love to hear them. We would.
We do have some listener mail already prepared for you though. Um.
It has been stirred slowly and we are going to
get into that as soon as we get back from
(21:41):
one more quick break for a word from our sponsors.
We're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're
back with stirred slowly. Yeah, no stress, no stress, no,
(22:09):
all right. Bart wrote loved the Panatona show. I love
the stuff before I listened, and now I love it
even more. We discovered it in a most unusual way,
but it's become a real treat in our house now.
I'm a Belgian living in Ireland and married to an
amazing irishman. We both have very strong, crusty and taste
memories of our childhood Christmases, but of very different things.
(22:32):
For me it's speculus delicious lightly spiced biscuits doled out
by sincer Claus st Nick, and for him it's traditional
Irish minced pies, many short bread pies filled with minced
and spiced dried fruit, and Christmas Cake, very rich and
dense spiced fruitcake. A few years into our relationship we
discovered my darling beloved has Celiac disease, so we've been
(22:55):
living gluten free for over a decade now. In the
early years it was a real slog to find dec
gluten free food, but that's just not a problem anymore
for the day to day stuff, but once a year
at Christmas, we remember how limiting it can be. Um.
The Irish Christmas stuff is all very dense and doesn't
really depend on gluten's air pockets, so it's probably not
(23:16):
a surprise that there are now gluten free mince pies
and Christmas cakes that even the most refined palette couldn't
distinguish from the glutenous original. But the Belgian stuff that
proved more of a problem. When the German supermarkets like
Legal came to Ireland and added gluten free ranges. We
didn't get my Belgium stuff, but we did get other
European Christmas treats, including gluten free panatone. Neither of us
(23:39):
had ever had it before, but the first time I
cut into one, warmed it slightly in the microwave, and
spread some real butter on it, we both fell in love. Similarly,
German specialty goods makers Share introduced us to Lamb, a cucin,
which we both also now love. Also, there's a happy epilogue.
Both Share and Legal now did luten free Speculus. So
(24:01):
because Celiac disease forced us to broaden our horizons, we
now feel truly European at Christmas time as we enjoyed Speculus,
minced pies, Christmas cake, Levi Cukin, and Panatone. Anyway, if
you're looking around for some Christmas eat topics for next year,
how about Speculus are leve cukin. Okay, first of all,
(24:22):
part this is lovely. Thank you for sharing, and I
very very much apologize if I butchered all of those pronunciations.
I gave it a solid effort. I looked up some stuff,
but yeah, that was a roller coaster. That was a
roller coaster of pronunciation. Um, but thank you for coming
along with me being supportive during this time. Uh oh,
(24:47):
but but all of that does sound delightful. Thank you
for the tips. Uh, there's there's a there there, there's
a little in um at least at least one in Atlanta. Now, um,
I've been meaning to go o yeah safor savor field
trip that is much more easily accomplished than a lot
of our other fields trips on our list. Yes, this
(25:11):
is great, and I'm glad that you are able to
find more luten free options around the holidays. Now, I'm
glad that you discovered Hannah toone and loved it. Um,
this is all all amazing, and yes we have added
those topics too. Are admittedly massive list, but they're on there.
(25:32):
It's completely overwhelming, but they're but they're on there. Yeah, yeah,
yes they are. Yes they are how He's wrote, absolutely
love your show, you guys make the work day zip
by all right, onto the ranch l O l okay,
I know l O L but I hate ranch too,
And I just got the Rick and Morty cookbook and
(25:53):
thought I would try it out. We're gonna make the
pickle Rick pickles later today, and wow, I was not
stout at all. I think it might be the aquafaba
instead of eggs, but I'm no scientist. Try if you dare,
ps um, if the idea of ranch is still absolutely terrible,
we sent along our spicy candied maple bacon recipe and
(26:15):
our pair custard pie recipe too. Oh yeah, we love recipes,
you know that. Just a clarification. This email came with
like the subject line we got to talk about ranch.
No oh no oh no um. And it came attached with,
(26:35):
uh with this recipe from the Rick and Morty cookbook,
which is apparently a thing. Um and uh. And the
recipe is titled Rigy Rigty Ranch um and uh and
yeah it's it's a version of of ranch made with
(26:56):
aquafaba and cream of trder and some Dijon mustard as
the texturizers. Um, in order to create that like that
like kind of creamy mouth feel without having to um
to use eggs. So fascinating. That is fascinating. Also fascinating
is it makes three cups of dressing. I guess if
(27:17):
you if you like ranch, or at a party, it
could go fast. I don't absolutely. Yeah, that does seem
that does seem like quite a bit of dressing. But
it does. But I guess that's like about what would
be in like a large bottle. It's party sized. It
is party sized, and you know Rick and or Morty
(27:37):
would want us to have a party. I suppose, So
I suppose we can't argue with that logic. WHOA, maybe
one day I'll give it to go. Maybe one day
I'll give it to go. Um. Thank you as always
listeners for writing in. If you would like to write
to us that you can our emails hello at favor
pot dot com. We're also on social media. You can
(27:58):
find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor pod
and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is
a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
my Heart Radio, you can visit the i Heart Radio
app Apple Podcasts, where wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
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Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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