Homemade Tahini

Toasting Sesame Seeds (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

I want you to think of today’s recipe as a precursor to the recipes that will be shared over the next two Sundays in this column.

Tahini, sometimes called Tahina is a paste made of hulled, toasted sesame seeds. Nutty, flavourful and full of nutrients, Tahini is widely used in Middle Eastern and North African cuisines. As a paste it is blended with other ingredients to make dips and sauces. As a sauce, it is used as a condiment, but the sauce is also blended with other ingredients to make a variety of dressings and sauces.

Store-bought Tahini is often expensive and some times of inferior quality. Tahini is very easy to make at home, all you need is a food processor to turn those shiny toasted seeds into