During our tour around in Chelsea Market, Erik and I came across an interesting shop called “Seed + Mill.” Behind the glass were chunks of cake made out of grinded sesame seed called “Tahini.” Something I was not familiar with.
Tahini is a nutty, creamy paste made out of sesame seeds. It has a texture of powdery peanut butter. Tahini is a pastry paste used in the Middle Eastern. Countries in the Middle Eastern use this ingredient to prepare hummus served with pita bread. Behind the glass window were a couple of different flavored Tahini cakes. I tried a sample of cranberry tahini, pistachio but my favorite was the sea salt chocolate. The texture and taste of the Tahini, kind of reminded of a candy we have back in Mexico called Mazapan. The Mazapan is a soft powdery candy made out of almond paste and sugar but there is only one flavor to it. Next time, I return to Chelsea Market, I am bring back with me a pound of sea salt chocolate tahini.
I thought Seed + Mill was an interesting place too. The first thing that caught my attention was the design of the storefront and the way they presented their Halva -very neat and tidy. Like you, I was not familiar with their product, so it was very nice to try something new. Since the main ingredient in Halva is tahini, I expected the sesame seed flavor to be very forward. However, the tahini flavor was very mild. Seed + Mill adds non traditional flavorings to their halva to give their product a modern twist. I do not think I have tried anything similar to halva before, so I find it difficult to compare it to another product. What I would say is that the texture of it is very interesting and addictive: Crumbly but somehow airy or fluffy at the same time. This store not only sells halva. They also sell flavored and plain tahini, a halva breakfast sandwich and goat’s milk soft serve ice cream with halva topping, which I would try for sure on my next visit to the Chelsea Market.
Seed + Mill within Chelsea Market is a great location; from being able to see the Halva being wrapped and the variations of Halva that they offered. Like my fellow classmates I have never tried or heard of Halva, when I first saw it through the window I thought it was either cheese or butter. However, I was pleasantly surprise that it was something sweet. I honestly didn’t except it to taste the way it did, it is slightly grainy but not overly so. It wasn’t extremely sugary having the taste of either the apricot or peanut butter with a slight taste of caramel. It has a nutty flavor slight undertone of sesame seed. It something that I would definitely buy next time I visit Chelsea Market, and also encourage family and friend to try.