Sesamum indicum

sesame

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Sesamum indicum L. (Pedaliaceae); sesam (Afrikaans); sim sim (Arabic); hu ma (Chinese); sesamzaad (Dutch); sésame (French); gingli (Hindi); Sesam (German); sesamo (Italian); goma, shiro goma (Japanese); sésamo (Portuguese, Spanish); susam (Turkish)

DESCRIPTION The ripe seeds are small (about 3 mm or ⅛ in. in length), variable in colour (mostly off-white but often black or various shades of brown) and have a delicious nutty taste and nut-like aroma, especially after being toasted to bring out the flavour. The seeds are sold plain or decorticated and toasted or untoasted.1

THE PLANT An erect annual (ca. 1.5 m or 5 ft) with pale pink or purple tubular flowers and oblong seed capsules.

ORIGIN Sesame is an ancient cultigen, thought to be of East African or Indian origin. It is one of the most ancient oil crops in the world, dating back to at least 3000 BC.2,3 It features prominently in Middle Eastern archaeology3 and Greek writings.

CULTIVATION Sesame is an important oilseed and food source, with an annual production exceeding 3 million tons. The main production areas are Myanmar, India, China and North African countries.2 Sesame is exceptionally tolerant of drought (but not frost or waterlogging) and is grown from seeds in tropical, subtropical or temperate regions where no other crop will survive.

HARVESTING Capsules are gathered by hand as they progressively ripen along the stems, but for large-scale production mechanical harvesting is essential.2

CULINARY USES Sesame seeds are an important component of the diet in Middle Eastern countries, where they are eaten raw or roasted, but more often converted to tasty sauces and pastes. The best known of these is tahini, a thick paste that is widely used in North Africa and the Near East. It is made from ground sesame seeds, lemon juice, pepper, garlic and various other spices and has many culinary applications. It is mixed with ground chickpeas to make hummus, a popular Middle Eastern condiment served with savoury or sweet dishes, including salads, vegetables, meat and poultry dishes, and beans and peas. Numerous variants of tahini and hummus are used in Indian, African, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and Mexican cuisines. Culinary applications include Chinese sesame seed balls, Japanese gomashio, Mexican moles, Caribbean sesame seed brittle, Indian til-patti, pinni, tilgul and many more. Sesame seeds are often roasted to create a delicious nutty taste and are commonly sprinkled on bagels, hamburger buns, crackers, bread and cake.1 Sesame seed oil is popular as cooking oil in Arabian, Chinese and Japanese cooking. Flour made from sesame seed is used for making bread, pancakes, biscuits and other confectionery items. The best-known example is halva, a sweet made from ground sesame seeds, to which ground almonds and sugar are added.

FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS Numerous volatile compounds give roasted sesame its delicious flavour.4 Examples include 2-furfurylthiol (coffee-like), 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (caramel-like) and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (apple-like), as well as sulphur compounds such as 3-methyl-2-buten-1-thiol (sulphurous, meaty flavour) and 4- mercapto-3-hexanone (“catty” flavour, also found in beer).4

NOTES Some people are allergic to sesame.

1. Farrel, K.T. 1999. Spices, condiments and seasonings. Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, USA.

2. Nayar, N.M. 1995. Sesame. In: Smartt, J., Simmonds, N.W. (Eds), Evolution of crop plants (2nd ed.), pp. 404–407. Longman, London.

3. Zohary, D., Hopf, M. 2000. Domestication of plants in the Old World (3rd ed.). Clarendon Press, Oxford.

4. Tamura, H., Fujita, A., Steinhaus, M., Takahisa, E., Watanabe, H., Schieberle, P. 2010. Identification of novel aroma-active thiols in pan-roasted white sesame seeds. Journal of Food and Agricultural Chemistry 58: 7368−7375.