CLEVELAND — Dana Harary is bringing a new tahini to the shelves, possibly at a Heinen’s Grocery Store near you soon.

“Ours is stone ground," Harary said. "Many of the other tahinis out there are industrialized, and so they do not use the traditional stone ground method that is used to make it. And that is one of the things that sets are tahini apart, allowing us to bring a creamier, tastier, no bitter after taste product."

Tahini is a condiment made from toasted ground sesame, which can be served by itself or as a major ingredient for things like hummus.

Harary said she moved from Israel to Cleveland and knows what quality tahini tastes like as a co-founder of Seeds of Collaboration — a company that is trying to lead a tahini revolution in America.

“SoCo was born out of our need, our pain point of not finding the best, the tahini that we are used to and wanting to bring the magic of it to the United States,” Harary said.

She added the other co-founders of SoCo, Goni Light and Yonatan Sela still live in Israel. However, despite having business partners who work across the world and in different time zones, she said it works for them because a major part of their mission as a company is to build bridges across international communities.

“One thing Israelis and Palestinians can agree on is that the best tahini ever comes from a city called Nablus, and that is where our tahini comes from,” Harary said.

So, they collaborated with Douglas Katz, a well-known chef in Cleveland, and a tahini maker in Palestine to produce a product that is palatable to people all over the world and provides economic opportunities.

“We provide work in the Palestinian Authority, where, that is where our tahini is made," she said. "So we have the manufacturing facility. We do our packaging, our labeling. A lot of our [research and development] is also done over there, because we come up with a recipe over here. But, at the end of the day, it needs to be translated into a product that goes into the jar.”

According to their website, every jar of tahini they sell helps fund a student startup through an educational initiative called MEET.

“MEET is a program that is in full partnership with MIT," Harary said. "It brings together young Israelis and Palestinians, and we donate 1% of our revenue to this organization, helping to promote more partnerships like ours."

In addition to economic collaborations, Harary said social outreach and innovation are also key components of their company.

“SoCo is a way of connecting people together — people, communities that are in conflict, or reaching out to people that are in some type of stress or need,” she said.

So, this month, Harary announced that SoCo plans to donate a portion of their revenue to Ukrainian refugee relief efforts. 

 “It goes beyond Israelis and Palestinians working together,” Harary said. “It's about other collaborations as well, different conflicts that we could come in, and maybe lend a hand, and some tahini to create, to put people together, around one table.”

Harary said she hopes her company’s tahini brings people together for a tasty treat in the Cleveland community and around the world. She added that one of her favorite ways to eat tahini is with pickles or on top of ice cream.

“They should know that it's delicious (and) that it's an amazing solution for any time of the day," she said. "I eat it five times a day."