Tahini is a versatile and useful food and it goes into all kinds of recipes, including hummus and falafel. It’s nutritious and tasty – but it isn’t always the easiest thing to work with, and you might be wondering how you deal with it when it’s hard.
If your tahini is too hard to use, there are a few different things you can do to make it thinner and runnier. One involves mixing in a little cold water into it to change the consistency. You can also soften it by putting the jar in some hot water for a few minutes. Another option is to thoroughly mix the oil back in if this has separated.
Hard tahini is no fun to work with, so in this article, we’ll explore some of the best ways to make tahini soft and pliable. We’ll also check out why tahini separates and what problems this causes.
How Can You Make Tahini Softer?
Adding hard tahini to any meal can be a challenge. Even scooping it out of the jar might prove tricky if it has set solid, so you need some tricks to help get it softer. It will mix into your recipe far more easily if it hasn’t set like a stone! You can soften it using the following methods:
- Place the jar in warm or hot water for several minutes
- Mix any separated oil back in
- Add a little more sesame seed oil to the jar and mix thoroughly
- Add some water to the tahini
- Blend the tahini
As you can see, you have quite a few options, so we’ll discuss each of these methods below!
1) Hot Water
When tahini is cold, it turns much harder, and this makes it hard to scoop. This is because the oils in it set. In warm tahini, the oils are liquid and soft, so you can scoop it onto a spoon more easily.
You should store your tahini somewhere cool (such as a cold pantry or a fridge) to help it last well, but that means you do need to warm it up before you can use it.
You can leave it on the counter to come to room temperature if you like, but a faster method involves putting the jar in a bowl of hot water and leaving it there for a few minutes.
The tahini should soften, making it ready to use again – but check out the next method before you scoop some out.
2) Remixing The Oil
Very often, the oil in tahini will separate and pool at the surface. This is because it is a liquid at room temperature, so it doesn’t stay mixed in. A pool of oil at the top looks unappetizing, but it’s also a problem because it means the tahini will become hard and stiff. You need to mix the oil back in.
Simply take a spoon and thoroughly stir the oil until it is completely recombined with the rest of the ingredients. This will have to be done whenever you use the tahini, but taking the time to do it will ensure you get a mix of both oil and sesame seeds – rather than just oil.
3) Adding More Oil
Sometimes, you’ll want to actually make your tahini softer than it was when you bought it. In these cases, adding a little more sesame oil should do the trick. Since the tahini is made with sesame oil, it won’t affect the flavor, but it will make it slightly thinner.
Add a very small amount of sesame oil (you can always add more later) and mix it in as described above. Do this until you have achieved the desired consistency.
4) Adding More Water
You won’t always have sesame oil to hand, so you may want to use water to make your tahini thinner. If you’re going to do this, just mix some into the tahini you plan to use straight away, rather than adding water to the whole jar.
Scoop out your tahini and add a few drops of water, and then stir thoroughly to combine it.
5) Blending The Tahini
Sometimes, blending the tahini is the best way to soften it. This will both mix in any separated oils and warm the tahini up, so it tends to be an effective approach. Add the tahini to a blender and blend thoroughly for a few minutes, and then check the consistency.
Bear in mind that it will separate and cool again, so this doesn’t “fix” your tahini for next time, but it can be a good option if you’re using a lot of tahini.
Conclusion
Tahini often turns hard while it’s being stored because it needs to be stored in cold conditions. Allowing it to warm up, remixing in the oil, or thinning it slightly should be enough to make it usable again.
