Sesame

Sesamum indicum

Pedaliaceae

The seed that opens — a hot-season crop whose paste is tahini and whose oil is the quiet fat of a dozen kitchens.

Culinary seed and oil. A major allergen.

Parts used: Ripe seed · Expressed oil
Traditional notes: Kitchen seed and oil · Traditional food tonic · After a dry meal
Grow · USDA 6b: Hot-season annual. Needs a long summer. Direct-sow in warm soil. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: Cut stalks as pods tan, before they pop, and dry in a bag.

A cold summer is a green plant and no seed.
Bag the tops or the garden becomes sesame.

Safety

Sesame allergy

Lore

Open sesame is a real agronomy joke: the capsule splits with a snap. Assyrian gods were said to have drunk sesame wine before they made the world. The seed is in Tutankhamun’s tomb and in every tahini jar. Ali Baba was late to the field.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.