Sesame Seeds and Til Oil: Winter Sweets, Massage and Oil Pulling

Til seeds jump in a dry pan like tiny popping corn, and that sound is the sign that winter cooking has started. Sesame is also one of the most common food allergens in the world, so it deserves a careful read.

Seed, hull and oil

Sesame is one of the oldest cultivated oilseeds there is, grown across India, Pakistan, Sudan, Myanmar and the Middle East. The pods split when ripe, which is where the open sesame line comes from, and the small flat seeds inside come in white, brown, red and black depending on variety.

The hull matters more than people realise. Unhulled seeds keep their tan or brown skin, taste more bitter and mineral, and hold more calcium and fibre. Hulled seeds are pale, creamy white, sweeter, and are what most tahini and most bakery topping is made from. Black til is a separate variety, stronger and slightly bitter, used in Chinese and Japanese cooking and in some Indian sweets. For everyday cooking, keep hulled white seeds for toppings and sweets and unhulled for anything where you want the deeper flavour.

Til oil, and the confusion around it

Two very different oils are both sold as sesame oil. Cold pressed or wood pressed (kachi ghani) sesame oil is pale gold, mild, and is the oil used across South India for cooking and across the region for body massage. Toasted sesame oil is dark brown, made from roasted seeds, intensely nutty, and is a finishing oil for East Asian dishes. Using the toasted one for a massage would be a memorable mistake.

Sesame oil is naturally quite stable for a seed oil, which is one reason it has been used for thousands of years in hot climates. Buy it in dark glass or tin, in the smallest bottle you will get through in three months, and look for cold pressed or wood pressed on the label with a pressing date. Refined sesame oil sold in a clear plastic bottle with no date is a cooking fat and nothing more.

Storage, and the rancidity problem

Sesame is high in unsaturated fat, and unsaturated fat goes off. This is the single most common reason sesame dishes taste wrong, and most people do not recognise the flavour, they just decide they do not like til.

Keep seeds in a sealed glass jar in the fridge, where they hold for about six months, or the freezer for a year. In a warm kitchen cupboard, count on two to three months at best. Before you use them, smell the jar. Fresh sesame smells faintly sweet and nutty. Rancid sesame smells like old paint or crayons, and once you have smelled it you will never miss it again. Tahini and sesame oil go the same way. Oil lives in a cool dark cupboard, tightly capped, and in a hot climate the fridge is better even though it may cloud.

The til and gur tradition

In January, around Makar Sankranti and Lohri, sesame and jaggery come together across northern India, Pakistan and Nepal. Til gul in Maharashtra, til ke laddu in the north, tilkut in Bihar, chikki everywhere. The reasoning offered is that both are warming foods for the coldest weeks. The custom in Maharashtra is to hand someone a piece and say a line that means take this sweet and speak sweetly, which is a better argument for the practice than any nutrition claim.

Til and gur laddu, properly measured

Makes about 12 laddus, roughly 20 g each.

1. Dry roast 150 g of white sesame seeds in a heavy pan over low to medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 to 7 minutes. They will start to jump and turn a pale gold and smell nutty. Take them off before they brown properly, because sesame goes from golden to bitter very quickly. Tip onto a plate to cool.
2. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the roasted seeds whole. Pulse the rest in a grinder for 4 to 5 short bursts so they break up but do not turn into paste.
3. Grate or finely chop 120 g of jaggery. Put it in the same pan with 1 tablespoon (15 g) of ghee over low heat.
4. Stir until it melts and bubbles, about 3 to 4 minutes. Test a drop in cold water: when it forms a soft ball you can roll between finger and thumb, it is ready. Do not take it to the hard crack stage or the laddus will not shape.
5. Turn off the heat. Add the ground and whole seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder and a tablespoon of chopped almonds if you like. Stir hard for 20 seconds until evenly coated.
6. Wait 60 to 90 seconds until you can just bear to touch it. Grease your palms with a little ghee and roll walnut sized balls, pressing firmly. Work fast, because the mixture stiffens as it cools. If it hardens in the pan, warm it gently for 20 seconds.
7. Cool completely on a plate, then store in an airtight jar. They keep two to three weeks at room temperature.

One laddu is about 20 g and carries roughly 8 g of sugar. One or two with afternoon tea in January is the tradition. Six in one sitting is not.

How much sesame, and how

As food, one to two tablespoons of seeds a day, 9 to 18 g, is a comfortable amount. Sprinkled on salad, stirred into raita, rolled onto roti dough, baked onto bread, or eaten as tahini. Whole sesame seeds pass through largely undigested if they are not chewed thoroughly, so grinding or crushing them lightly gets more out of them. Tahini is simply ground hulled sesame and a tablespoon, about 15 g, is a generous serving.

Oil pulling, done properly

This is a morning mouth care routine from Ayurvedic tradition. What is fair to say is that swishing oil dislodges debris and leaves the mouth feeling clean, and that plenty of people find it pleasant. It does not replace brushing, it does not replace a dentist, and it does not remove anything from the rest of your body.

1. Do it first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking.
2. Take 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of cold pressed, untoasted sesame oil into the mouth. Start with 2 teaspoons if a full tablespoon feels like too much.
3. Swish gently and steadily for 10 to 15 minutes. Push it between the teeth. Do not gargle and do not tilt your head back, because swallowing it is the main thing to avoid.
4. If your jaw aches, stop at 5 minutes and build up over a week. This is meant to be relaxed, not a workout.
5. Spit into a bin or a tissue, never the sink, because oil sets in the drain. The oil should look thin and milky white.
6. Rinse the mouth with warm water, then brush your teeth as normal. Every day or a few times a week is plenty.

Sesame oil on the skin and hair

Warm massage with sesame oil before a bath is a genuine and pleasant tradition, especially in winter. Warm about 30 ml by standing the bottle or a small bowl in hot water for a few minutes until it is comfortably warm, never hot. Work it over the body with long strokes on the limbs and circles on the joints, leave it 15 to 20 minutes, then bathe with warm water. It leaves the skin soft, and it is a good half hour of quiet.

Patch test first. A few drops on the inside of the forearm, left for 24 hours, checking for redness or itching before you use it more widely. Anyone with a sesame allergy should avoid it on skin as well as in food. Keep it away from acne prone areas of the face if you find it heavy, and never use toasted sesame oil on skin.

Keeping til in the house

A small jar of hulled seeds in the fridge for topping and sweets, a bottle of cold pressed oil in a dark cupboard for cooking and massage, and a tiny bottle of toasted oil for finishing noodles and stir fries. Buy all three in small quantities and replace them often, because freshness is the whole game with sesame.

It pairs most naturally with jaggery in winter sweets, and it belongs to the same family of seeds as flaxseed, which has its own rules about grinding and storage. The whole shelf is covered in our Desi Remedies series.