I’m relatively new to tahini, but that’s mainly because I’m relatively new to all the foods you won’t find on the TGI Fridays kids menu. I’m a recovering picky eater who barely touched a vegetable until my mid-twenties. (Do McDonald’s fries count? Don’t answer this question.) It’s a fact that I felt deep shame growing up. I’ve always wished I was a more adventurous eater who wouldn’t freak out almost every time I was invited over to someone else’s house for dinner – what if they served something that wasn’t beige?! So when I moved to New York shortly after college, I decided it was time to start taking food risks too. I was tired of missing, well, the spice of life, literally and metaphorically.
A bite of kale here led to a green smoothie there, and eventually my daily meals began to feature colors other than red pizza sauce on a regular basis. But it wasn’t until I roasted the sweet potato, broccoli, and cauliflower over high heat—to the point that they were crispy on the outside and tender in the middle—that my relationship with vegetables shifted. from acceptance to tenderness. And it wasn’t until I topped them with crispy chickpeas and a velvety lemon tahini sauce that they became some of my favorite foods (little Cathryne still can’t believe it). I’ve eaten this meal four nights a week, almost every week, for the past five years (I make a big batch, baking sheet style – loosely based on this recipe – on Sunday), and when I really want to treat my taste buds, I use Organic Tahini Seed + Mill.
My weekly lemon tahini sauce is just tahini plus lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt to taste, diluted with water. My dedication to this concoction led me to experiment with a variety of jars, all of which were do not created equal. Some were far too bitter, which may be due to over-roasted or unshelled sesame seeds, and others were unpleasantly grainy, another common result of leaving the husks intact. I discovered a few premium brands that were creamy and had a well-balanced taste, but none ticked all my boxes as completely as Seed + Mill. It’s not the cheapest option – I also stock my pantry with Trader Joe’s tahini, which does the job for a lower price – but in my layman’s opinion it’s the best: it’s is incredibly creamy (I would go so far as to say velvety), it just has a nice hint of bitterness, and it works in both savory and sweet recipes.
Yes, it’s also one of my favorite baking ingredients. If you haven’t incorporated the Middle Eastern staple into your dessert menu, I would. Tahini is perhaps best known in the dessert world for being the star ingredient in many halvah recipes, but it also increases the complexity of baked goods (like these deeply delicious brownies) and other no-bake treats (I almost always this salty tahini cookie dough fudge in my freezer). And on the dessert side, Soom tahinimy second favorite pot, deserves an honorable mention in this review – it’s also super creamy and has a slightly more nutty flavor than Seed + Mill’s, which also makes it a great option for sweet treats.
I realize that taste preferences vary widely from person to person – I was the queen of plain cheese for most of my life, remember? – but I have gifted Seed + Mill tahini to many loved ones and have several foodie friends. who’ve tried it, and I’ve yet to hear nothing but praise for its next-level creaminess and balanced flavor. Oh, and the company was founded by three passionate women who are also very nice and down to earth – as I learned while working with them on an article in my previous magazine job. In other words, if you like tahini or think you might, I’m pretty sure Seed + Mill’s will run smoothly, just like Soom’s, at a slightly lower price.
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