Tahini Trouble! :(

[queenbee]

Hi all! I'm hoping someone can help end my horrible tahini.

I'm following the general directions that came with my Vitamix, and I'm getting something that resembles peanut butter - and not smooth, creamy peanut butter either. Plus the Vitamix sounds like it's going to die. I had to stop and add water and oil, which the recipe didn't call for. My kids were scared for their lives with the sound coming from the kitchen. lol

I called a friend and she said she had the same problem. And did the same thing - added water and oil.

Worst of all - the tahini doesn't taste like the tahini I'm used to (I buy raw tahini). I was looking to make the runny stuff and now I have this very strong tasting, thick paste. Maybe more water is the key? I didn't add very much b/c I was afraid of ruining 5 cups of sesame seeds...

Any tips or pointers?
I appreciate any and all help! =D

[MyRedPanda]

more water and oil, also try hulled seeds and soak overnight, that might help

[BeingK8]

Just made tahini and mine came out great. I am so pleased! Here's what I did:

Raw organic, hulled seeds, soaked at least 6 hours (I think around 8) then left to sit overnight.
I dried them in the sun on trays lined with kitchen towels all day, turning them because of course they clumped a lot when wet
Ground them in small batches in coffee grinder
Put in blender (and I have a CHEAP-O, sad little blender that I'm borrowing because I broke the pitcher on my other one and am in position to do a Vitamix yet)
Anyway, put them in blender with sesame oil - Eden Organics, cold-pressed. Is it raw? No idea. I don't know enough about that. I should think you could use olive or some other oil you prefer, but I chose to chance the non-raw on the oil because I was more interested in ideal flavor and I know my seeds are good and raw.
The blending took quite a long time with stopping to scrape and let the blender catch it's breath (it was a heck of a lot of work for that wimpy blender!) but I finally got it done. I squeezed a teeny bit of lemon juice to cut a little of the bitterness and that was it.

Then I made zucchini hummus! :-)

[queenbee]

Thank you so much! I think the problem is that I didn't keep it going for long enough. I was reading some information on making nut butter and it looks like that takes at LEAST 10 minutes. So I'm assuming that I got to the stage when everything clumps together but isn't smooth - had I kept it going I might have ended up with actual tahini. :)

I did read about using a coffee grinder - it's just that I have such a big family. We go through the stuff like no tomorrow... I'll try these suggestions and see what happens!

Thanks again!!

[BeingK8]

Well, I can understand that because I go through it fast and it's just me and sometimes my kids who eat it.