My History of Sesame Seeds!

I remember when I was at home, my mother used to make sesame bars or sesame balls all the time. Not only in the special festival but otherwise too.

The main reason behind starting to make that was health .My father was transferred to a place which had lots of cement factories .As a result problem of pollution was huge and people used to develop lung and breathing problems a lot. When My father was transferred to that place as a precaution doctor asked him to eat products made of jaggery.Now eating jaggery alone was a not an easy task ,so my mother came up with the idea of sesame balls or bars which were made of jaggery.

No matter what the reason was, we kids also had good time eating them even though we did not live in the cement factory place .My father lived there alone and would come on weekends. Unconsciously I also learn't making that.

Now I live in a place, which is so polluted that we do not get a chance to see the starts in the sky. Since Phoenix is a valley and thus surrounded by mountains, it is very hard for the polluted air to escape out. All the polluted air stays trapped in and the sky is not clear enough to let the stars visible to naked eyes. The saying that starts are countless is proved completely wrong with the stars in Phoenix sky. I was completely unaware of this fact until I visited Lowell Observatory. That tour was incredible .We not only got to see 100 year old telescope in a wooden dome which was used to discover the planet Pluto but we also found out some interesting facts .The tour guide said that the pollution level in Flagstaff which is just 2 hours drive from Phoenix is much lower than Phoenix. That was obvious when we saw the sky full of starts at night in Flagstaff and compared it with stars in Phoenix. I never saw that number of stars after I left India what I saw in Flagstaff.

Apparently, when I came back to Phoenix after Flagstaff trip, the first thing, which struck my mind, was to make that same old sesame balls and bars. Went to an Asian store and bought plenty of sesame seeds packets along with lots of jaggery.Now was the time of real experiment and test of my cooking skill, which I learnt unconsciously from my mother when I was a kid. I am glad that every thing went well, and the sweet came out good. Most importantly, my husband loved it and I felt my hard work was worth every thing.

Later I also found out that not only are sesame seeds very good source of manganese and copper, but they are also a good source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin B1, zinc and dietary fiber. In addition to these important nutrients, sesame seeds contain two unique substances: sesamin and sesamolin. Both of these substances belong to a group of special beneficial fibers called lignans, and have been shown to have a cholesterol-lowering effect in humans, and to prevent high blood pressure and increase vitamin E supplies in animals. Sesamin has also been found to protect the liver from oxidative damage.

The only thing I wish is that, I could send few pieces to my mother to let her know how her skills became helpful to me and how proud she should be for me. I wish she could taste a piece of that sesame ball.