Green Bean and Benne Salad

Another Charleston favorite, this salad of green beans tossed with sesame seeds— “benne” to Charlestonians — is best when served at room temperature. Benne came with the slave trade from West Africa early on and has been firmly entrenched in lowcountry cooking for three hundred years. The salad is brightened with hot peppers, which though native to the New World had long been in favor in the West African countries whence came the slaves.