when making homemade raw unhulled tahini should you soak first?

[Purl]

or use 'em dry?

[sport]

I use them dry but then I never soak sesame seeds. Maybe I am wrong.

[earth_sista]

i think it'd be easier to use them dry, since you'll probably be grinding them in a coffee grinder, right?

[Vandy]

What if you are using a Vitamix? Should you soak them? Does it matter how much you put in there when trying to make tahini?

Also, do you soak shelled hemp seeds? Has anyone tried those Nutiva raw shelled hemp seeds? Do you need to soak those?

[earth_sista]

not sure about the vitamix, but i dont soak my hempseed, it seems to digest pretty well without soaking. oh, and hempseed is very tasty!

[Sheryl]

I called a tahini company in Australia to ask about their methods (to determine if they were raw). I found out it's very common for them to soak then air dry the sesame seeds prior to grinding. This makes grinding easier. I don't know how much they dry. From the 2 companies I talked to temperatures seemed to be kept low.

I do know from experience that tahini with lemon or water added goes off VERY quickly (days), so my guess is that's it's pretty well dried before grinding.

Cheers,
Sheryl