Sesame Seeds

Sesame has been grown around the eastern Mediterranean for thousands of years, and sesame bound with honey is one of the oldest sweets in the region, surviving intact today as pasteli. In Greek baking the seed works as a crust rather than as an ingredient mixed through a dough: it is pressed onto the outside, where it toasts in the oven's heat and turns nutty.

Koulouri Thessalonikis, the sesame-crusted bread ring sold from street carts every morning, is the clearest case, the ring dipped in water and grape must syrup before being rolled through a tray of seeds so they stick. Lagana, the flatbread eaten on Clean Monday, is strewn with them, and melekouni, the spiced honey and sesame bar from Rhodes, is still made for weddings.

Tahini, sesame ground to a paste, is the same seed in another form, and it matters most during the fasting periods of the Orthodox calendar, when it replaces dairy in tahinopita, in a lemony tahini and rice soup, and in halva. It separates in the jar and needs stirring back together properly first, or the first spoonful is oil and the last is unusably stiff.