Organic black sesame in a 200 g pack. Not white sesame that has been coloured — a genuinely different cultivar, sold with the hull left on, and a much bolder ingredient than its pale cousin.
How it differs from white sesame. Two things. First, the variety: black sesame carries dark pigments in the seed coat and tastes distinctly nuttier, earthier and slightly bitter. Second, it is unhulled, so you are eating the seed coat as well as the kernel — which is where the extra fibre, minerals and most of that bitterness live. Where white sesame disappears politely into a dish, black sesame announces itself, in flavour and on the plate.
Where it belongs. Black sesame is a East Asian staple far more than a Mediterranean one. It is toasted and ground into the sweet black paste used in Chinese tangyuan and steamed buns; blended into Japanese kurogoma ice cream and puddings; ground with salt into black gomasio for rice; scattered over sushi, sesame balls and onigiri. In a Western kitchen it does beautiful work on white things — cauliflower, white fish, labneh, a pale loaf — purely because the contrast is so strong.
Toast it, carefully. The usual trick of watching for colour does not work here, because the seeds are already black. Go by smell and sound instead: two to three minutes in a dry pan over medium heat, until they start popping gently and smell strongly nutty. Take them off then — burnt black sesame is genuinely unpleasant and almost impossible to spot by eye.
Allergen: sesame is a declarable allergen under EU law. Say so when you cook for others.
Certified organic. Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
treatfuls
treatfuls
treatfuls
