Black Sesame Seeds: What Makes Them Black, How They Taste and How to Use Them

Black sesame seeds are the seeds of sesame (Sesamum indicum) cultivars whose seed coat is dark rather than pale. They are the same species as white sesame,¹² with a stronger, slightly bitter, roasted flavor. In Chinese cooking they go into sweet black sesame soup, tang yuan, ice cream and cake.³ This page covers what makes them black, where sesame comes from, how they are used, what they contribute nutritionally, and sesame’s status as a major food allergen.

At a glance

What makes black sesame black

Sesame seed color is a cultivar characteristic: PROSEA lists white, grey, yellow-white, brown and black seeded types,² and Katzer notes that sesame seeds can be off-white, brown, grey or black.⁵ The color sits in the seed coat. A 2022 study in Frontiers in Nutrition isolated the dark pigment from black sesame seed coats and found it similar to melanin from other sources; the authors also report that flavonoid content in sesame rises with seed-coat darkness.⁴

A common claim holds that black sesame is simply unhulled sesame and that hulling is the only difference between black and white. That is not right. Black seeds come from dark-coated cultivars,²⁴ and sesame is sold both whole and hulled.⁷⁸ What hulling does change is composition: USDA data show whole toasted sesame at 989 mg calcium per 100 g, against 131 mg for hulled, toasted kernels.⁹⁸ USDA’s sesame entries do not specify seed color.

For the difference in the kitchen, see black vs. white sesame seeds and hulled vs. unhulled sesame seeds.

Flavor and the compounds behind it

Katzer describes dried sesame as tasting nutty, with the flavor dramatically increased by toasting, and notes that pyrazines dominate the flavor under mild toasting conditions (160 °C).⁵ PROSEA notes that sesame seed is rich in phytic and oxalic acid, which with calcium create a slightly bitter taste.²

Black sesame tastes stronger, earthier and a little more bitter than white, with a crunchier bite from the intact coat. That is our description; no sensory comparison of black and white seed was found.

The oil carries the lignans sesamin (0.1–0.6%) and sesamolin (0.25–0.3%), which PROSEA credits with giving sesame oil its remarkable resistance to oxidation.²

Origin and history

Sesame’s wild origin is disputed:

The early record, per PROSEA: sesame excavated at Harappa (Pakistan) has been dated to 2000 BC; the Egyptian “Medical Papyrus” of Thebes, from about 1500 BC, lists sesame oil and seed among its remedies; and by the 6th century BC sesame was so prominent in China that it served as currency.²

The word. English “sesame” comes through Latin sesamum from Greek sēsamon, which the Online Etymology Dictionary traces, via Phoenician, to Late Babylonian shawash-shammu; Assyrian shamash-shammu means “oil-seed.”¹⁰ “Open sesame” entered English in a 1722 translation of the Thousand and One Nights.¹⁰ Katzer lists modern Arabic as-simsim among related names.⁵

Benne in the American South. The Charleston County Public Library notes that “benne” is one of several West African names for sesame, and that the traditional account holds it came to the Lowcountry with enslaved West Africans, who grew it in small private plots on rice plantations.¹¹ The earliest record the library cites is a 1730 letter describing sesame grown in South Carolina.¹¹

Widely repeated claims that sesame appears in an Assyrian creation myth, that ancient Chinese burned sesame oil for ink soot, that sesame came from the “Spice Isles,” and that Romans ground it with cumin into a spread could not be traced and are left out.

How black sesame seeds are used

• Chinese sweets. The Woks of Life describes sweet black sesame soup (zhī ma hú, 芝麻糊) as a traditional Chinese dessert, made from toasted black sesame, black rice and a sweetener, and lists black sesame tang yuan, ice cream and cake among other black sesame desserts.³ Even pre-roasted seeds are worth toasting briefly in a dry pan until fragrant, the recipe advises.³
• Japanese condiments. Toasted sesame mixed with about 10% salt is the Japanese condiment gomashio.⁵ See gomasio, furikake and shichimi togarashi.
• Everyday use, by common practice: sprinkled over rice, noodles, salads and roasted vegetables; pressed onto crusts of tuna or chicken; used in breads and crackers where the color contrast matters.

Technique

Toast in a dry pan over medium-low heat, shaking often, and stop when they smell nutty and begin to pop. Dark seeds don’t show browning, so go by smell. Grind toasted seeds just before use for pastes and fillings. These are kitchen judgments, consistent with the toasting advice above.³

Production

PROSEA gave world sesame seed production as 2.7 million tonnes in 2000, with India stable at about 500,000 t and Japan, Italy and China among the major markets.² That figure is old and covers all sesame; no production figure for black sesame specifically was found, and FAOSTAT could not be reached for a current total.

Nutrition

USDA’s entry for whole dried sesame seed (color not stated) gives, per tablespoon (9 g):⁷

Per 100 g, the same entry gives 573 kcal, 17.7 g protein and 49.7 g fat.⁷ Copper stands out; the rest are modest at a sprinkle.

Health claims

A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis of ten controlled trials in the British Journal of Nutrition found that sesame consumption significantly lowered blood triglycerides, but that evidence for lowering cholesterol was insufficient.¹³ The authors found the triglyceride effect for sesame oil, not for whole or ground seeds, and noted the small number of trials and high heterogeneity among them.¹³ So the claim that black sesame seeds lower cholesterol is not supported by that review. No claim is made here that black sesame treats or prevents heart disease, cancer or any other condition.

Safety

Sesame is a major allergen. The FASTER Act, signed on 23 April 2021, made sesame the ninth major food allergen in the United States, effective 1 January 2023.⁶ US law requires labels to identify the food source of every major food allergen used to make a food.⁶

In July 2023, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf reported that some manufacturers had begun intentionally adding sesame to products that previously did not contain it, which keeps them compliant with the labeling law but limits options for people with sesame allergy; the FDA said it does not support that outcome.¹⁴ The FDA advises checking the label every time you buy a product, because ingredients can change.¹⁴

Storage

Sesame seeds are about half fat by weight.⁷ No published shelf-life figure from a regulator or standards body was found. Keep them airtight in a cool, dark place, or in the refrigerator or freezer for long storage, and smell before using: a stale, paint-like or bitter smell means they have turned. That is common kitchen practice.

Substitutes and comparisons

White sesame seeds are the obvious swap, one for one by volume, with a milder flavor and different look (Method starting point; no tested ratio found).

• Sesame seeds
• Black vs. white sesame seeds
• Hulled vs. unhulled sesame seeds
• Sesame seed substitutes
• Gomasio, furikake and shichimi togarashi