Ingredients · Nut & seed

Sesame

Sesamum indicum · Pedaliaceae

Sesame
One of the oldest oilseed crops there is, and one of the most drought-tolerant plants in any kitchen — it grows where other crops fail, on the moisture left in the soil after the monsoon has gone. Four products carry it, whole or toasted. Toasting changes it completely: raw sesame is mild and slightly grassy, toasted it is nutty and deeply aromatic.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partSeed
KindNut & seed
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromIndia (domestication), India and Myanmar (production)
TasteMild and grassy raw; nutty, rich and deeply aromatic toasted

How to use it

Toast in a dry pan until they start to jump, and take them off before they brown. In za'atar with thyme and sumac. Ground into tahini. Over noodles, rice, salads and bread. Toasted sesame oil is a finishing oil, not a cooking one.

With food

Bread and flatbread. Honey. Chicken and beef. Spinach and green beans. Rice and noodles. Aubergine. Citrus. Chocolate.

With spices

Thyme and sumac — za'atar. Chile. Ginger and garlic. Szechuan peppercorn. Nori.

With tea

Sencha and genmaicha. Hojicha. Oolong.

Its story

Where it comes from

Charred sesame dating to about 3500–3050 BC shows it was domesticated in the Indian subcontinent at least 5,500 years ago, and it was traded between Mesopotamia and India by 2000 BC. India led production in 2024 at 866,111 tonnes, then Myanmar and Sudan. Our lot names no origin.

What happened

Open sesame may be a botanical joke. Sesame grows its seeds in capsules that split open with a pop when ripe — a dehiscence so characteristic that it is one suggested origin for the phrase in the Ali Baba story. The crop's real distinction is stubbornness: it has one of the highest oil contents of any seed, around 50 per cent fat by weight, and it tolerates drought and heat well enough to be planted where nothing else will take. That combination — oil-rich and hard to kill — is why it has been grown continuously for five and a half thousand years.

On the shelf with it

Every product it goes into.

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