Sesame (Sesamum indicum or Sesamum orientale) is an annual plant that grows up to 6 feet. The plant requires a fairly long and warm growing season of four to five months. Other than being highly nutritious, sesame or linga is highly recommended because it is antiallergenic.
There are many people who are allergic to food and most are not aware of it. In the US alone there are some 11 million people who suffer from food allergy in one form of another. The discovery of the antiallergenic properties of sesame offers an alternative way of reducing allergic reactions on certain recipes. The anti allergenic property of sesame lies on its chemical composition, mainly glycerides and linolic acid and other derivatives such as sesamin, as gleamed from the following report of Mitchell and Thorpe. (Useful Plants of the Philippines)
“Sesame oil consists pf glycerides of oleic and linolic acid, with small quantities of the glycerides of solid fatty acids, including stearine, palmitin and myristin. The unsaponifiable matter (1 to 1.4 percent) consists of a phytosterol, sesamin, and sesamol, which reacts with furfural and hydrochloric acid.”
Whole seeds of sesame (Sesamum orientale) are utilized by bakers in making various cakes and sweetmeat. As food sesame provides the body with proteins (36 %), carbohydrates (24%), calcium (2.7%) and phosphorus (2 %). Sesame seeds yield 50 to 57 percent oil which is pale-yellow to red-brown color, called pil. Pil has a pleasant characteristic aroma that makes it a favorite food condiment.
Sesame for food seasoning was recorded way back 3,000 years with the Assyrians.
For nearly as long, sesame flourished in the Middle East and Asia, where their seeds and oils were used for culinary, medicinal, health, and beauty purposes.
Sesame is the alternative to allergenic food. ~
Living with Nature 3, AVR; photo acknowledgment, Google, Internet.
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