Elements: Tahini Cocktails

A historic staple of Levantine cuisine, tahini—a creamy mixture of ground sesame seeds—has been used in savory and sweet dishes for centuries. And while you may be more accustomed to mixing it into your hummus, there’s a good argument for mixing it into your cocktails as well. Tahini’s mellow, nutty flavor and luxurious texture can be used in various cocktail applications, from fat washing and syrups to stepping in as an orgeat substitute.

Chris Ainsworth, chef and co-owner of Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen in Walla Walla, Washington, also approaches cocktails from a culinary perspective. “I look for ways to incorporate the ingredients we already use into drinks, which is how I hit on fat-washing vodka with tahini,” he says. “The neutral spirit takes on the toasty elements and slightly bitter finish of the tahini and provides a rounded mouthfeel.” For his Pinky Swear, Ainsworth combines the tahini vodka with an Italian aperitif, maraschino liqueur, and walnut bitters; the final touch is a spritz of Lebanese anise liqueur inside the glass. “Tahini plays well with the syrupy sweetness of the aperitif and cherry liqueur, and walnut bitters amplifies its tannic notes,” says Ainsworth, noting that the tahini vodka would also work in a dirty Martini or Lemon Drop.

At Homer, a Middle Eastern–Mediterranean restaurant in Seattle, bar manager Ginny Edwards was asked to create a tahini-based cocktail that would feel cohesive with the food menu. The result was Hey Jude, an herbaceous, savory cocktail made with caraway-forward aquavit and a salted lemon-cilantro syrup. “The savory spice notes and subtle sweetness in the aquavit work well with tahini’s nutty and bitter notes. And those flavors are amplified by the citrus and salty syrup,” says Edwards.

For Edwards, tahini’s texture is just as appealing as its flavor, imparting a frothy body and a velvety consistency. “It’s the hero ingredient we never knew we needed,” she says.

For newly minted cookbook author Rose Previte, owner of Maydān in Washington, D.C., tahini is a part of her Lebanese heritage, and the inspiration for the Halwa, a Margarita riff. “Our bar manager Nari Kim had the brilliant idea of making tahini the star of the Halwa by using it in a syrup with sugar, vanilla, and orange blossom water,” says Previte. “It’s her version of a drinkable Snickers bar, but it reminds me of the halva I ate growing up.”