Chef Douglas Katz on SoCo Tahini

When we were picking our ingredients for my restaurant, Zhug, we knew it was important to pick the best tahini. We tasted more than 12 different tahinis for our menu. We thought we’d found the best tahini after that process — but little did we know that there was an even better tahini with a connection to Northeast Ohio.

Dana Harary, Co-Founder and CMO of SoCo, grew up in Israel and now lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Her business partner, Goni Light, manages the tahini production in Israel. Dana came to Zhug for dinner one night last Spring and suggested that I try their tahini. I was excited to compare this product to all of the others that we had tasted. Without a doubt, Seeds of Collaboration tahini, or SoCo for short, was better than any we had tasted. It was smooth and creamy and didn’t have the typical bitter aftertaste so common in other brands.

In addition to the amazing flavor, the SoCo story is pretty amazing. At its core, SoCo is a women-owned company vested in the purpose of economic collaboration as a sustainable way to build bridges between communities in conflict. SoCo donates 1% of proceeds to MEET (Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow), a nonprofit in partnership with MIT, that connects young Israeli and Palestinian students using the common languages of technology and entrepreneurship. Every SoCo jar sold helps fund a student startup at MEET, seeding more partnerships like this one.

*Delicious Tahini Recipes*

Tahini is a great addition to your holiday menus. Check out a couple of my favorite recipes and the fun ways that I enjoy preparing this special product. Be creative and try a few of your own, too.

*Holiday Promo*

Add some excitement to your holiday season with some fun holiday tahini recipes of your own! Please use this special promotional code Douglas30 for 30% off when you place your order at eatsoco.com. Let me know what you think!! Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season!

~ Chef Doug