There's a word in Sanskrit - Sneha - that means both oil and love. Not metaphorically. Literally the same word.
That's not an accident. Sesame oil has been part of Ayurvedic practice for thousands of years, used in a daily self-massage ritual called Abhyanga. The idea is simple: taking time to warm oil and work it into your skin is an act of care for your body and your nervous system. Oil and love as the same gesture.
We'll come back to that. but first, a little history.
One of the oldest cultivated plants on earth
Sesame has been grown for at least 5,500 years. Evidence of cultivation goes back to the ancient city of Harappa in the Indus Valley which is modern day Pakistan and northwest India. From there it travelled along trade routes into Africa, the Middle East, and eventually across the world.
Which brings us to "Open Sesame." The phrase from One Thousand and One Nights most likely refers to the way a ripe sesame pod bursts open at harvest suddenly and dramatically scattering seeds everywhere.
Why I reach for sesame often
Sesame oil has a naturally long shelf life which is unusual for an oil with a relatively high polyunsaturated fatty acid content. The reason is two remarkable compounds found in sesame: sesamin and sesamol. These natural antioxidants act as built-in preservatives, which is one of the reasons I have long used unrefined sesame oil as the infusing oil for my different herbal infused oils I make throughout the year.
Oil and love
Back to Sneha. Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest systems of medicine, with deep roots in South Asian tradition and sesame oil sits at the heart of it. The practice of Abhyanga, daily oil self-massage a thousands-of-years-old practice from the understanding that caring for the body is caring for the whole person.
The full Sesame Oil Profile, including the complete fatty acid breakdown and what happens to the oil when you toast the seeds is now live in the Lipid Lab. Join us here →