Millets and Other Grains · FFET10468

Sesame

Black, white, and red sesame are recorded; the seeds can be pressed for oil, ground into paste, or cooked with rice.

Sesame is an oil-bearing seed, called huma in old texts, which describe black, white, and red types. The seeds can be pressed for sesame oil or roasted and ground into sesame paste. Historical texts also describe cooking sesame with rice, mixing ground seeds with mung bean starch to form a curd, and cooking the young leaves as greens.

What

Sesame is a seed used for oil and flavoring. Old texts call it huma and describe black, white, and red types.^2,3

When

An old farming text recommends sowing sesame in the second and third months of the traditional calendar. A separate tradition credits Zhang Qian with bringing sesame seeds from Dayuan; this is a told origin tale and does not establish a date of introduction.^2,3

Where

Black sesame seeds come mostly from China and Southeast Asia.⁴

How

An old farming text describes mixing seeds with dry sand for sowing, then bundling the harvested plants and beating out the seeds. In the kitchen, sesame can be pressed for oil, roasted and ground into paste, or cooked with rice. Another historical preparation mixes ground seeds with mung bean starch to form a curd.^1,2,3

Why

Sesame serves as both an oilseed and a flavoring, with its roasted aroma contributing to sesame oil and paste. An old farming text also records a higher oil yield from white-seeded types.^1,3

Impact and influence

China is the world's second-largest importer of sesame, mostly oil-grade seed (the page gives no year). Sesame also appears in sweet foods such as sesame dessert soup, known as zhimahu.⁴

Sources (4)