Halvah - a Candy Made From Sesame Seed Butter

I found an old cookbook with a Halvah recipe in it. It called for 1 cup of sesame seeds and 2 tablespoons of honey. They instructed that you had to grind the sesame seeds in a small electric seed grinder. Then, you add honey to it and roll into balls. You can coat them with additional sesame seeds or shredded coconut, but I did not do that. I'm tempted to frost them with sugar and cinnamon.

I have a food processor that is for small batches, and I didn't realize until yesterday, that I could flip the blade over for grinding spices. Yes. You press the blade sideways, and pull it from the shaft and flip it over, slide it back down the shaft and lock it back on.

I dumped the entire bottle of sesame seeds into the processor, but I think there were too many. I started the processor on high speed to grind them, and was surprise to see the sesame seeds turn into a liquid. Like peanut butter.

I am amazed. I dumped the sesame seeds back out and did a series of smaller batches. High for a couple seconds, then low to puree.

Now that I have ground all the seeds into a thick paste, I need to add some honey to bind and sweeten.

Since the original recipe called for 1 cup of seeds,and I used 2 cups, I need to add twice the honey.

The honey I used was thick to start with, and adding it into the sesame paste was interesting, because I had to fold it into the paste.

It ended up the consistency of modeling clay. I started to make a ball, and then decided to put it in a dish for cutting later into fudge size squares.

Now, mind you, I was expecting to taste a good flavor when I bit into that ball. I was not expecting a bitter flavor. But it was.

Then, I looked it up online, and apparently that bitter flavor is common. Even expected as part of the Halvah experience. I think it is an acquired taste, and I'm not sure I like it. There is a coworker that I'm planning on taste testing it, and I'll have to report back if it is everything she remembers about it.

Apparently, if you have the blade a certain direction, it will chop your items. If you reverse the blade, it grinds.

I purchased my sesame seeds at Fleet Farm. I purchased a second bottle, just in case my fondness caused addiction to Halvah.