Sesame Oil

Might Be Islands Product

A correspondent has asked for infor mation about sesame oil.

Sesame (sesamum indicum) is a hardy annual plant, 2 to 3 feet high and is extensively grown in India Ceylon, Africa, Jamaica, Japan and Asia Minor. From the seeds which it produces there is pressed one of the finest cooking oils known, worth about £25 per ton. The oil is clear and lim pid, varying in colour from a pale yellow to a dark amber. It has no smell and is not liable to become ran cid. Sfesame oil is much in demand— -8,000 tons were produced in 1926. Mar seilles is the centre of the pressing trade. The seed goes straight into the press, without preparation, and it yields 45 to 55 per cent, of oil and a very valuable cattle fodder.

In India, where over 4,000,000 are planted with sesame, the oil is used for culinary purposes, soap manufac ture, medicine, and the manufacture of perfume. The seed is sown broadcast on ploughed ground and harrowed in.

The crop is harvested in three or four months after planting. It is often grown as a catch crop. There are two varieties, one producing white and the other black seeds —the latter is more largely grown and yields the bet ter oil.

In India it is planted in warm, tem perate or sub-tropical regions, being cultivated as an autumn or winter crop in the warm parts and as a sum mer crop in the colder. It requires a moderate rainfall. The best soil is a well drained alluvial loam, although it can be grown on poor land, but with a reduced yield. When the plants are cut they are tied in bundles or thrown into heaps to dry. The pods then burst and release the seeds.

Much of the “best olive oil” is really sesame oil. and it is used freely in the best quality of margarine. About 20 bushels of seed from an acre may be obtained, which will yield approxim ately 60 gallons of oil.

The sesame shrubs are being culti vated in New Caledonia, among other places.