Benne Seeds

Benne seeds are an heirloom ancestor of sesame that grew wild throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The word benne means “sesame” in Bantu, a West African language, and is traditionally associated with good fortune. Enslaved Africans brought benne seeds to the West Indies and the southern United States in the late seventeenth century and grew them in their gardens. By the late eighteenth century, benne seeds and their oil had become staples in Lowcountry food and a focus of intense market farming. In the nineteenth century, benne oil was the go-to salad dressing of the South, but the production of cottonseed oil eventually overtook the market.