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Chinese Stone-Ground Sesame Paste (Specialty of Shandong)
$14
The right sesame paste for Chinese food
The Mala Market's Pure Chinese Sesame Paste is made from single-origin Chinese sesame seeds that are deeply roasted and stone-ground without chemicals or heat. It is creamy, nutty, fresh and fragrant, with a deep golden-brown color. It contains no added oil or other additives or preservatives but remains smooth and pourable if used and stored properly.
The traditional stone-grinding process that has been used for millennia in China retains the nutrients and full flavor of pure sesame without the bitter edge that is often found in quicker, mechanical processing. We tasted many sesame pastes before choosing this one for The Mala Market because of its fresh, rounded taste without a hint of bitterness or stale oil.
Both Northern and Western China use sesame paste and both have popular versions of sesame noodles. Other noodle dishes—dan dan mian, za jiang mian, Chongqing xiao mian—have a touch of sesame paste for creaminess and nuttiness. Sichuan’s “strange flavor” sauce for cold dishes includes sesame paste as one of the major components, and many people, especially in Northern China, add sesame paste to their hotpot dipping sauce.
Outside of traditional uses, this sesame paste is a divine ice cream ingredient or topper and lends itself to other creative desserts. (We mix it with honey as a toast spread.)
Heritage Process
The best sesame pastes and oils in China come from Shandong Province, which has a long history of traditional stone-grinding.
While similar to Middle Eastern tahini, Chinese sesame paste is made from a variety of sesame grown in Xinjiang and is deeply toasted, giving it a much darker color and more robust flavor. The sesame seeds are not processed with heat-generating blades but are slowly ground to a paste in a circular motion between two large stones. This centuries-old, low-pressure, low-heat production method ensures that the sesame paste retains both its nutrients and its singular texture and taste.
Compare To
Tahini is not a good substitute for Chinese sesame paste. It is made from raw or lightly toasted sesame seeds and has a lighter color and milder flavor than the dark-roasted seeds used in Chinese sesame paste. The robust flavor of the Chinese version can go head-to-head with the soy sauce, vinegar and garlic it’s sometimes combined with and still assert its roasty nuttiness.
Also unlike tahini, a little of this highly flavorful paste goes a long way, so this jar should last through many bowls of savory, nutty noodles or festive hotpot dinners.
When comparing to other Chinese sesame pastes, note that many supermarket brands dilute the paste with additional oil or even add peanut butter to the mix, which is popular in some parts of China but has a different taste.
How To Use It
Unlike major-brand nut butters, which use additives like hydrogenated vegetable oil or palm oil to keep the solids and oil from separating, natural nut butters and seed pastes such as this one—which has no ingredients other than ground sesame seeds—will separate more and more over time.
The easiest way to slow this separation process is to thoroughly mix the paste when you first open it. Stir the oil into the solids until they are fully incorporated before you store it. And then thoroughly mix it again every time you use it to make sure the oil is evenly distributed throughout the jar. This will ensure that the paste does not turn into a solid, hard brick at the bottom of the jar.
Both because this sesame paste is freshly made to order for us and because you will mix it each time you use it, your sesame paste should have a runny, creamy texture that can be used right out of the jar. Some recipes will instruct you to mix the solids in a jar of sesame paste with warm water or sesame oil to make a runny paste. There should be no need to dilute this paste to retain that consistency if you stir it each time you use it.
Storage
Sesame paste does not require refrigeration. Store in a cool, dark place. Some experts do refrigerate nut butters to keep them fresher longer, but that results in a thick, hard consistency that is difficult to stir or use. We have found this sesame paste to remain tasty for quite a long time if stored in a dark, cool cabinet. Be careful not to cross-contaminate it during use; always use a clean spoon.
One of Sichuan cuisine's official complex flavor profiles, guai wei, or "strange flavor" is a robust—but not so strange—mix of condiments including sesame paste
