Tahini

Tahini is a smooth, pourable paste of ground sesame seeds — usually hulled and lightly toasted — with a loose, oily consistency, an ivory-to-tan colour and a rich, nutty taste edged by a characteristic gentle bitterness. It is the savoury backbone of Levantine and Eastern Mediterranean cooking: blended into hummus and baba ghanoush, whipped with lemon and garlic into the sauce that dresses falafel and shawarma, and, in its sweet life, ground with sugar into the crumbly confection halva. Nutritionally it stands apart from other seed and nut butters for its minerals — far more calcium and iron than almond or peanut butter, per spoonful.