[net.cooks] Making sesame paste

tjo@gypsy.UUCP (02/19/86)

<Put THAT in your food processor and dice it>

 Does anyone have experience making sesame paste (tahini)
 from sesame seeds?
 What is the most effective, easily obtainable, device to use?
 I tried using my Salton peanut butter maker, but the results 
 were a little disappointing, and it went incredibly slowly.
 When I cleaned the machine, it turned out that the plastic feed 
 tube from the nut holder (it feeds the nuts or seeds
 into the grinding mechanism) had been chewed up somehow.

 The problem seems to be that sesame seeds are so small.
 Has anyone tried a spice grinder or coffee grinder?

 Thanks,
      Tom Ostrand
      Siemens Research Labs.
      Princeton, NJ
      (astrovax | ihnp4)!siemens!gypsy!tjo

bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (02/22/86)

I have an old cast-aluminum hand mill (ya ever see those old meat
grinders that clamp onto the side of a table? This looks just like
that but has two large circular faces with spiral scoring.) I have
used it for sesame paste, peanut butter, coffee, all sorts of things,
works like a champ, I found it in a drawer in a house I moved into
years ago, the people living there (it was a share) had lived there
for years and had no idea where it came from and said "if you know
what it is, it's yours", it's mine. Maybe look in antique stores, very
handy thing, not as much work as it sounds, kinda fun actually and
lotsa control over the process. I guess I could send the brand cast
into it, not home right now tho. If I remember right sometimes you
have to add some sesame oil to fix the consistency, depends on the
seeds you get but you'll know when you're done (it may appear more
like an oily flour than a paste, just beat in some sesame oil.)

	-Barry Shein, Boston University

todd@reed.UUCP (Todd Ellner) (02/23/86)

**** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH A MASSAGE **** 
>  Does anyone have experience making sesame paste (tahini)
>  from sesame seeds?
>  Has anyone tried a spice grinder or coffee grinder?

I tried it once. I now have a new coffee grinder and just buy the stuff
from the store when I have a kitchen and some time to cook.

											Todd Ellner
											Reed College