Open to sesame farms, Oklahoma?

Seeds N Snacks makes tahini local fare in the 405 diningscape

You might’ve heard recently that Oklahoma City is now home to one of the largest, most advanced tahini factories in the United States. What you might not know is domestic tahini manufacturers are pretty sparse. I found nine besides the newly opened Seeds N Snacks manufactory. But that doesn’t make the news any less amazing.

More importantly, local tahini fans can now get their hands on a version of the classic sesame paste made locally.

Marcel Hage, CEO of Snacks N Seeds, said during a tour of the new factory that the pandemic created the opportunity to rethink tahini production. Turkey was king of tahini production for decades, but the pandemic tangled supply lines and created scarcity that put a flame to import/export costs.

“We decided it would be cheaper if we just built a factory here,” Hage said. “We considered a number of cities before landing on Oklahoma City.”

Hage admitted two factors weighed heavily on the decision.

“Well, I’ve been living here for ten years so I pushed hard for it,” he said. “But one of the things I learned living here, is the long-standing Lebanese community.”

With the state of the art factory in place and employees hired, Seeds n Snacks is producing tahini that’s being distributed nationwide. In the 405 diningscape, you can find it at Mediterranean Imports, Deli and Gastro Good in North Oklahoma City and Mediterranean Mart in Bethany

The tahini is made from organic sesame seeds that are vacuum-sealed in Turkey where they are cultivated and shipped overseas, but Hage hopes to further localize his tahini.

“We’re looking for farming partners right now,” he said during the tour. “Our goal is to find an Oklahoma farm that can grow our sesame seeds.”

The tour also included a snack table with plenty of fresh-made hummus. I only tried a little, but it was distinctive enough for me to track down at Med-Deli, which is also a great place to shop.

Since purchasing the store just months before the passing of founder Atif Asal, owners Maggie Howell and Christine Dowd have chef-ified the store. Asal always had great products from overseas at the store, but Howell and Dowd have taken it further. Along with a wide range of imports, they carry specially curated produce, and a cooler full of their own creations.

It was easy enough to find our new local tahini on the shelves, but it sat next to tahini Maggie and Christine make in house.

“We’re still using tahini from Turkey for ours, but the new product is selling really well,” Howell said. “We haven’t tried it yet for our products, but I love the idea that they are looking for local farmers to grow the sesame seeds.”

Containers of tzatziki, baba ganoush, and toum. That last one, pronounced like tomb, was the find of the day. Toum is an amazing condiment made of whipped garlic and salt. It makes everything it touches crackle to life. The good news is the recipe is simple. The bad news is that simple as the recipe is, it requires the peeling of entire heads of garlic.

I made some hummus with the tahini (and freshened up some steamed rice with toum), and the SeedsnSnacks tahini was a welcome addition. The paste was thin enough to pour and showed no signs of separation. The lush, bright sesame flavor wrestled canned garbanzo beans into a proper dip.

Here’s a basic hummus recipe followed by one I had fun with using black beans.

Classic Hummus

1 15.5-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained liquid reserved

½ cup cup tahini

1 clove garlic, peeled

Olive Oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Sambal, Harissa, olive oil, sesame seeds or toasted garbanzos for garnish

Directions

Place the garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and spices in a food processor and blend until smooth.

With the motor running on low, slowly add the olive oil. Keep the motor running about a minute.

Transfer the hummus to a bowl and drizzle with more oil and dress with a topping like Harissa, sambal, sesame seeds or toasted garbanzo beans.

Spicy Black Bean Hummus

1 15.5-ounce can black beans, drained

½ cup tahini

1 clove garlic

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons Chili Oil

1 tablespoon Chili Crisp

Directions

Place the black beans, lime juice, tahini, garlic, and spices in a food processor and blend until smooth.

With the motor running on low, slowly add the chili oil. Keep the motor running about a minute.

Transfer the hummus to a bowl and top with Mexican crema and cilantro.

SOURCE: Dave Cathey

Rest in Peace, Rick

Food Dood Feed reader Louis Green passed along some sad news over the weekend. The world lost Rick Gratch over the weekend. Folks who frequented Caffé Pranzo will recognize that name. Gratch took a property that started out as a sandwich shop called Gagliardi’s and grew it into a popular Italian restaurant that doubled in size, ran a great lunch service and always had a wait on the weekends.

Rick was 63 when he passed away at his home in Lakewood, Colorado. He is survived by his wife, Janiece; daughters, Ilene (Jason) Gold, Elisa (Brad) Mack; son, Adam Gratch (Eric Heckenkemper); granddaughters, Zella Mack and Aspen Gold; sister, Barbara “Bobbie” Gratch; and many brothers- and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Morton and Adeline Gratch.

Services are this morning at Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City. Burial will follow at Emanuel Hebrew Cemetery. Live streaming is available.

Events

The $2K Cookie Contest is Oct. 29 at Twisted Tree Baking Co. in Edmond, and if you follow the bakery or me on social media you’ve probably seen our roll-out of bakers. I will have a story this weekend revealing all the bakers, but until then you can find tickets to the event here.

Tickets are moving fast, so get yours today to ensure you are able to taste 16 varieties of pumpkin cookie plus food from Nic’s Food Truck, pumpkin lattes from Evoke and pumpkins from Oklahoma farms from 4 to 6 p.m.

Once again, help me steer Foodiciary events for 2024 by taking this survey.

Carne Diem: Oct. 21, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. VI Marketing and Branding brings its massive chili cookoff to downtown Oklahoma City for its 20th iteration. An All-Access Pass costs $15 and gets you three bowls of chili from more than 60 different varieties, including offerings from local restaurants. There is also live music, free popsicles and beer available for purchase. You’ll need it if your join the Start the Fire hot pepper eating contest. The event takes place on the street in front of VI at 125 Park Avenue.

Autumn Abundance Farm-to-Table Dinner, Tanglefoot Farm: Oct. 21; 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Chef Luke Fry will cook at Tanglefoot Farm in Blanchard. Dinner will include live music. Cost is $75 per person and includes a tour of the farm, drinks, coffee by the fire and a four-course menu of Okie Sunrise Spread, Hen in the Greens, Prairie Homestead Pie, and October Apple Fritters. Click here for tickets and details.

Taste of Western: Oct. 26, 6 to 9 p.m. in the Will Rogers Theatre. The big party for Western Avenue vendors enters its 20th year with a big party featuring bites from Jinya Ramen, Pachinko, Rococo, Milo, The Metro Wine Bar and Bistro, Musashi’s, Sushi Neko, 74, Eddie’s, Bin 73, The Hutch, Iron Star Urban BBQ, Republic Gastropub, Pearl’s Oyster Bar, The Oil Tree, and Hideaway Pizza with wine from Thirst, beer from Anthem, booze from Wanderfolk and Southern Glazier’s. The event will include a photo booth and silent auction. Guests will elect a winner of the coveted Golden Fork award for the evening’s best bite amid a soundtrack of live music. Tickets are $100.

Empire Slice House 10th Anniversary Party: Oct. 28, noon to 8 p.m. at the Plaza District location. 84 Hospitality celebrates a decade of success for its first concept. To celebrate, the Plaza location will havelive music by DJ J2O, Twiggs, Audio Book Club and Jabee. The party will also include cocktails, a pizza-eating contest, Halloween costume contest and Marinara-wrestling. (Not a misprint). There will also be a raffle benefiting SISU and Positive Tomorrows, cash prices and a chance to win free slices for an entire year.

Chefs Potluck: Nov. 6, 6 to 9 p.m. at The Joinery. Chef Chris McKenna will welcome 20 of his closest chef friends for a potluck to benefit Shred the Stigma. Each of The Joinery’s four floors will include tastings from the chefs plus activities and live music. Tickets are $50.

St. Elijah Food Fair, St. Elijah Antiochian Church:  Nov 10-11 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday.