Black Sesame
A black sesame variety, prized for its color, nutty flavor, and nutritional value.
About the variety. Plant of 50–150 cm that produces white-purple bell-shaped flowers; the small oval seeds form inside capsules along the main stem. Deep-rooted, it has high drought tolerance.
Itinerário técnico
Um guia de cultivo passo a passo, da sementeira à colheita.
Sow direct one to one and a half centimetres deep, only once the soil is above 20 °C: below that the seed will not germinate. Germination takes five to ten days. Thin to twenty centimetres between plants. It is a long hot season crop and needs ninety to one hundred and fifty days without cold. Sow between mid May and mid June: any later and it will not finish its cycle before the first cold nights. It needs no stake: the stem is stiff and holds itself up.
It prefers light, sandy and very free draining soils and tolerates pH from 5.5 to 8.0. It puts up with poor ground well. It tolerates no waterlogging at any stage: even a few hours of standing water kill the plant. A raised bed or a slight ridge along the row helps water drain away on heavier ground.
It demands strong heat, between 25 °C and 32 °C, and full sun. It is one of the most drought resistant crops there is. There is no such thing as too much heat for this plant: it grows better at 30 °C than at 25 °C and needs no shade. Sow only once nights stay above 15 °C, because one cold night checks the plant for weeks. It only makes sense inland in Portugal and Spain and in southern France; on the cool Atlantic coast and in Germany it will not finish its cycle outdoors. This is a long cycle variety. Inland in Portugal and Spain and in southern France it finishes without difficulty, but on the cool Atlantic coast, in northern France and in Germany it only gets there if started early with bottom heat and grown in a greenhouse, a tunnel or against a south facing wall. In Italy the same rule applies: easy in the centre and south, and only with protection in the Po valley and the north.
It asks for little and an over rich soil works against it. Soil that was composted for the previous crop is enough, with no extra feeding. Excess nitrogen gives soft, watery growth with little flavour and much greater sensitivity to pests and cold.
Water only to secure germination and establishment. After that it is practically a dryland crop. Stop watering entirely once the capsules begin to form, because moisture at that stage spoils the seed.
Hoe often and always shallowly, because the roots are short, near the surface and break easily. The best method is to prepare the bed two or three weeks in advance, let the first flush of weeds germinate, remove it and only then sow: that gives you a decisive head start. A thin layer of sieved compost between the rows greatly reduces later work.
Few pests affect it. Watch for aphids on the shoots, caterpillars on the foliage and birds on the ripe capsules. Potassium soap and Bacillus thuringiensis handle the occasional case. Flea beetle can riddle the young leaves in dry weather: a fine mesh in the first weeks solves it. Birds are the biggest risk at the end: cut the plants and finish drying indoors instead of waiting in the field.
Leaf spots and fusarium wilt appear in damp or poorly drained soil. Prevention is always the same: free draining soil, restrained watering and a three year rotation. Avoid sowing where tomato, potato or aubergine grew in previous years, because they share fusarium. In a wet year, the most important thing is not to water and to let the soil dry between showers.
The capsules split open as they dry and the seed falls to the ground, which is the classic mistake with this crop. Cut the plants when the leaves yellow and the lowest capsules start to open, tie them in bundles and hang them upside down over a cloth or inside a paper bag: the seed falls out on its own as it dries. Allow about 90 to 150 days from sowing to the first harvest of this variety. The reference colour is black, and that is what tells you it is ready.
