BITTER homemade tahini :( suggestions?

[kaybee]

Im perpetually puzzled as to how anyone manages to make decent homemade tahini.
i love love love tahini, but most of it is roasted and the only really raw one i found was artisana, and its only available in the States. Even rejuventative foods one that costs five billion dollars tells you that the seeds are high temp dried and I think it also tells you that the temp in processing it into tahini could reach higher than 118.

ive been using whatever i can get my hands on, but where i am living now, its a 1.5 hour trip to the health food store, and it costs the equivalent of about 15 dollars!

but every single time i try to make my own it comes out HORRIBLY bitter. yes, i am using the seeds with the hulls still on them because the white seeds are not available--and my understanding is that ALL the white ones are high temperature dried anyway. though i prefer tahini with the white ones, a number of times i have bought "dark" tahini made with the same type of seeds i am using--with the hull--and it has tasted fine to me. slightly bitter, but not in an offputting way. my tahini comes out SO bitter that even agave doesnt cut the bitterness. maybe all the others ive tried are roasted and roasting cuts the bitterness? Its not just my seed source either because ive tried it in several different countries and its always yucky bitter when i make it. ive tried adding salt, and my main intended usage for it is to mix with lemon juice as a salad dressing. even the lemon juice doesnt make it taste good, whereas with the jarred storebought tahini, it makes an AWESOME dressing just with lemon juice.

all i am using is sesame seeds, ground in coffee grinder or blender, then put in FP. nothing added, same as the jarred stuff. just one ingredient: sesame

the only other thing i can think is to soak and dehydrate the seeds and THEN use them. This seems like a big hassle though. Would it even help?

Help!

thx
kaybee

[kellybethx3]

try this recipe:

1/2 cup raw sesame seeds
1/4 cup canola or falxseed oil
sea salt, if desired

Blend the sesame seeds in a blender. Then add the oil til its the consistency close to peanut butter. Add a little sea salf if desired. It shouldn't be too dry and shouldn't be too oily.

you can always divide it in half and try it before you make a whole batch and if you like it double or triple it! :D

hope this helps!

[Stina]

Mine is not as good as the store bought stuff but it is still really good. I put the sesame seeds in the blender with some water, not much, but I don't measure. I put in a little splash of olive oil or sesame seed. This only lasts like four days because if the water. I pretty much just add other stuff to it to make a salad dressing. Love tahini!

[RawSar]

Any time I have had tahini on its own its always been bitter. I could never use it like an almond butter but putting tahini in recipes taste really good.

[Eva]

I wrote a TON of info on sesame seeds here (http://uncooking101.com/site/raw-food-ingredient/sesame-seed-tahini/) but the best tip I have from the post, as strange as it might sound, is to add a ripe banana to it! Works like a charm!

[kaybee]

hmm. i wonder if you are all using the white sesame seeds which i cant get...?

i forgot--i actually HAVE tried making it with cold pressed, untoasted sesame oil added. still tastes way bitter and yuck and not like the stuff in the jar... flax oil i wont mess with here because its not refrigerated here in the shops, tastes bitter already when you open it, so i assume its rancid.

i find the stuff in the jars (including artisana, which does claim to be raw) to be slightly bitter but almost pleasantly so, and combining really nice with lemon juice for a salad dressing. the stuff i make is just yuck!. today i found that a ton of agave and cocoa powder cuts it enough to make it palatable, but my main purpose for it is for salad dressings, so that doesnt really work if you add agave and chocolate...

Eva--hmm ok ill try the banana...but then can i still use it for savory or will that make it too sweet? also will check out the stuff on sesame seeds. thanks

i dunno... its not that i dont like tahini,--in fact i LOVE it-- but dang i dont like MY tahini. hmmm. again back to wondering if i only like it roasted...but then the artisana's was great...or if you all are using white sesame...?

Edit: ok..it looks like you use the banana for the basic recipe, which you also then use in the savory recipe...ill give it a go. are you using white sesame seeds or the ones with the hulls still on them? thanks

[kellybethx3]

You could probably soak them to get the hulls off? Not sure though.

[Eva]

kaybee, I usually use the white sesame seeds that I believe are hulled, although I also use the tan and black ones sometimes too. The black is great in a milkshake I make that tastes like cookies and cream. Mmmmm!

If you don't use too much banana it should really be fine. You could also a touch of agave or something of the like. It's just the bit of sweet that helps a bunch.

LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES! I'm sure you will anyways! :)