All about Sesame > History

Open, sesame!
Immortalized by the tales of the Arabian Nights, sesame seeds have played an important role in both the sacred and the everyday from time immemorial. In China, sesame has been known for 2000 years and in Mesopotamia its cultivation can be traced back to 1600 BC, though it had been introduced as early as 3000 BC. In India it was a symbol of immortality and a commercial commodity: traders exported it to Europe via the Red Sea.

Later on, sesame was grown in Persia and Egypt, where part of the production was loaded onto feluccas destined for ports in Italy, where it was used as a seasoning in daily meals.

Sesame seeds were part of the popular cuisine of the Greeks and Romans.

In China, sesame oil was used in lamps.

Grown in Africa, sesame was carried to the United States by slaves during the days of the slave trade. Though sesame did not come to be widely grown in the US, it did grow to be widely used.