Tahini advice!

[NeverPromisedYouARoseGarden]

I have half a jar of tahini sitting in my kitchen cupboard, first opened about a year ago. Only ever used it to make hummus - until I got bored of the balancing act of getting the perfect amount of tahini to make it taste like hummus but avoid it tasting rank. Anyway, I'm ready to do battle again and also want to make baba ganoush. So, the instructions on the jar say keep refrigerated and use within three weeks. Obvs didn't do either of those things. Best before date is July 2021. There is a nice thick layer of sesame oil on the top. I'm a bit wary because of the hoo-ha with hummus being removed from supermarket shelves due to contaminated tahini. But neither do I want to be wasteful.

What do you reckon? Think it will be ok to use? Would you use it? TIA!

[handbagsatdawn33]

I think the combination of fridge & 3 weeks would make it a no for me.

[mynameiscalypso]

I'd taste it and see - I would expect it to have gone a bit rancid by now.

[AnneLovesGilbert]

From experience you know if it’s gone off

Yours sounds fine, I’d go for it.

I made baba ganoush for the first time last week and it was brilliant.

[Wallabyone]

It won't taste good now-I would definitely bin. For future ideas, you can make a delicious tahini dip with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, it's also nice on toast with honey. You can make delicious pastries with it too, but that's rather more involved (Georgina Hayden has written a book called Taverna and she has included a recipe).

[canihaveacoffeeplease]

I keep my tahini in the cupboard and use it every few weeks, it's fine! Think about ketchup, they always tell you to keep in the fridge and use in an unreasonably quick timeframe! Mine lives in the cupboard too. The current tahini has probably been open 6 months. As long as the tahini is fully under the oil layer it should be fine. As pp said, you'd know if it has gone off!

[Pineapple75]

I made baba ganoush yesterday using tahini that's been in my fridge for over a year 🤷‍♀️. It was pretty much rock solid and the oil had separated, but the finished product tasted good to me and no ill effects!

[NeverPromisedYouARoseGarden]

Ha! Split down the middle.

It doesn't smell bad at all and I get your point canihaveacoffeeplease about the ketchup. I'm usually the one saying "It'll be fine. Think about ketchup/pickle/olives etc etc." I think it's the hummus recall thing that's putting me off. Anyway, I made a special point of doing my weekly lockdown shop last night at a different supermarket (my usual one doesn't stock tahini) and they'd sold out! So I might have to use the jar I've got. Hm. Maybe I'll make the hummus and let DP be the royal taster (much stronger of stomach than the rest of us!)

Wallabyone, assuming we all survive eating the hummus, do you have a recipe for the tahini dip?

[NeverPromisedYouARoseGarden]

Pineapple75 - that's why I didn't put it in the fridge! I assumed it would go completely solid and it's hard enough to mix as it is. And it just feels wrong. Too oily. I'd never put peanut butter in the fridge. Mind you, that doesn't last in this house for much more than a week.

[nasalspray]

I do understand people don't want to be wasteful but a small amount of something that hasn't been stored correctly and open for a year when the label states 3 weeks isn't really worth getting worked up over. Just bin it. Mumsnet has some weird obsession/competition to see who can eat the longest out of date, badly stored food. It's a couple of whose worth of something that within either taste like shit or make you shit, or both.

[TheSandgroper]

My tahini never goes in the fridge and I use it sparingly. It never seems rancid to me.

Things go rancid when exposed to air or when amines deteriorate. The oil on top will protect from air and there are no amines so it should be fine.

[Wallabyone]

@NeverPromisedYouARoseGarden I've hopefully attached a recipe. It's really delicious with pita bread and crudités. We have it with barbecued lamb and pork too-it's a popular dip in Cypriot cooking.

[Mindgone]

I’ve never put tahini in the fridge either!