Thousands of years ago, on Indonesia’s Sunda Islands, humans started to cultivate the Sesamum Indicum plant for the first time. The plant’s tall, thin stems produce white, purple, and blue flowers, but, while undeniably pretty, these aren’t where the plant’s true value lies. Over time, these flowers turn into capsules, which provide a vessel for one of the world’s oldest crops: sesame seeds.
Crunchy, nutty, and slightly sweet, sesame seeds are renowned for their starring role on hamburger buns. But they’re incredibly versatile and can be used in a multitude of different ways. As Sesamum Indicum plants now grow across continents, sesame seeds are used in many traditional recipes. And in the Middle East, they were used to form the basis of tahini.
With a market worth more than $1.2 billion, tahini is now loved all around the world. But what actually is it? And what is…