Tahini

Why tahini is rated low

Tahini is ground sesame seeds and very little else, and it is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g), the sort of amount that goes into a dressing or a drizzle. Larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, as the GOS in the seed paste builds. A spoonful thinned with lemon juice and water makes a savoury drizzle that covers a whole plate, which is why tahini works so well as a flavouring rather than a base.

What changes your risk

• Serving size about 1 tablespoon (20g) is low, larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high. Treating tahini as a flavouring you stir through or drizzle over food keeps it at the low serve; a dish built heavily on the paste goes past it.
• What gets mixed into it Plain tahini and a tahini-based dish are two different things. Hummus adds chickpeas, and most tahini sauces and dressings are built on garlic, sometimes onion too. When a tahini dip causes trouble, the chickpeas and the garlic are the usual reason rather than the sesame.
• Stacking GOS across the meal Tahini carries GOS, and so do legumes such as chickpeas and lentils, and nuts such as cashews and pistachios. Tahini sauce over a bowl that also carries a legume puts a lot of GOS into one sitting even when each part was counted on its own.
• Cooking will not lower it Toasting the seeds, baking tahini into cookies or warming it into a sauce does not break FODMAPs down. Heat does not destroy them, and nothing leaves a thick paste the way it can leave a vegetable boiled in plenty of water.
• Check the jar The predictable tahini is the one whose ingredients list says sesame seeds and nothing more. Some jars add sweeteners, flavourings or thickeners that change what you are actually eating.

What else works

Tahini is already low at about 1 tablespoon (20g), so most people do not need a swap, and the useful thing to know is which nearby jars behave the same way. Peanut butter fills tahini's role in a dressing or a satay-style sauce, and butters made from macadamias, pecans, walnuts or pumpkin seeds work in the same nutty, savoury direction. The lookalikes to be careful about are cashew butter and pistachio butter, which are a different proposition entirely, and hummus, which people often treat as interchangeable with tahini but which is mostly chickpeas with garlic in it.

How to keep it low

Buy the plain, single-ingredient jar and give it a proper stir when you open it, since the oil separates and the paste at the bottom is far thicker than what you poured off the top. Storing it upside down between uses saves you that job. Thinning tahini with lemon juice, water and a little salt turns it into a pourable sauce that covers a whole plate of roasted vegetables while the tahini itself stays at about 1 tablespoon (20g), which is the practical trick worth learning. When ordering out, ask for the tahini sauce on the side so you control how much goes on, and remember that a garlicky tahini sauce or a hummus is a different food from the sesame paste itself.

Common questions

is tahini low fodmap

Yes, at about 1 tablespoon (20g). Larger portions are moderate and much larger portions are high, so it works best as a flavouring.

is hummus the same as tahini on a low fodmap diet

No. Hummus is mostly chickpeas and usually garlic, with tahini as a smaller component, so it behaves very differently from plain sesame paste.

can you eat tahini on the elimination phase

Plain, single-ingredient tahini is low at about 1 tablespoon (20g), so it fits. Tolerance varies between people, and reintroduction of anything is worked through with a dietitian.

what can i use instead of tahini

Peanut butter is the closest everyday stand-in for dressings and sauces, and macadamia, pecan, walnut or pumpkin seed butters cover the same savoury role. Cashew and pistachio butters are not substitutes.