Sesame Seed: From Mexico to the World
Just returned with a new jar of tahini from Café Jekemir, a delightful chain of Lebanese-Mexican coffee shops that have been in business since the 1930s here in Mexico City.
Since most of the canned and bottled foodstuffs they carry come from the Middle East, I turned this over to check out exactly where. Hmm. The address was Cortazar, a small town in the south of the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico where I lived until recently.
The web is a wonderful thing and it took about one minute to google Dipasa. Here’s their own blurb.
With over 30 years of experience Dipasa is considered the world’s most reliable processor and supplier of Sesame Seed and it’s derivates like Hulled sesame seed, sesame oil, sesame flour, tahini and sesame candy.
The company is Mexican, started about thirty years ago. I imagine they originally supplied the local market which uses sesame seeds in a variety of ways, not least to sprinkle on top of Mexico’s signature dish, mole. Now it exports all the products above to 54 countries including Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
And darn, why didn’t I learn about this when I was still close enough to go visit? Leaving aside tahini, I want to know how much sesame oil in China and Japan, how many of those seeds on the hamburger buns world wide come from Dipasa.
I have the hardest time finding tahini in Puerto Vallarta, and often resort to bringing a jar back from a US visit. I wish I could find Dipasa products here. I’ll Google it and see if they have outlets in my area.
Kathleen
Try and find a Lebanese store. There are Lebanese Mexicans there I know. Good luck.
Very interesting. I’m a big fan of sesame products, both as seed and as toasted oil for seasoning. When I was a kid in Brooklyn, NY, sesame halvah was popular. (Probably still is.)
Yesterday I had a delicious dish of enmoladas, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, at Restaurante El Gorjeo de Las Aves En Las Mañanas de Abril, in Ziracuarétiro, Michoacán.
http://mexkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/birdsongs-in-morning-encore.html
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
That sounds just lovely, Michael. And you can scoot over to Cortazar, right? And ask for a tour?
Writing commercial texts is a new form of litterature. You have to read through the double bottom.
What strikes me in this text is that they call themselves “the most reliable”. We can conclude that they are not the biggest, nor the best, neither the most modern (or they wouold state so). Being “the most reliable” is a statement that proves they have little else to claim. And as they are probably the company closest to the US (other big producers include countries like Sudan, Myanmar and Ethopia, just behind India and China), being reliable is not difficult.
Sesame is both botanically and historically an amazing crop. Possibly the oldest oil crop, the first globally distributed (it is not native to mexico) and the source of myths and stories. Think of Ali Baba, at first a historical figure.
Thanks for pointing this out, Nick. You are quite right about most reliable. I was interested that they have so little visibility in Mexico. And agreed about how interesting sesame is.
Sesame is a good plant for drier, harsh weather, or the summer– long showers prolong the harvesting period, of course. I’m growing it now in a very small scale and it is quite invasive, yet very beautiful.
Two of the more interesting aspects to the plant for me are: there are numerous sesame flower references in old Hindu religious texts, comparing dieties’ noses to them. And, that it is one of the few plants that the Philippines shares similar names with in mainland Southeast Asia (usually we only get similarities as far as the Malay countries).
The candy in that website is identical to local snacks, mostly made with black sesame and molasses and eaten to cure anemia.
Oh do post some pictures of your sesame. Deities’ noses. Hmm, have to think about this one. And what are those names that are shared?
sesame seed is a common garnish for Greek cookies
if i remember correctly from my reading, when olive oil wasn’t being grown all over Greece, for example, on some of the small northern Greek isles with fewer inhabitants, sesame was grown instead, and its seed oil was used, eg on the island of Limnos
That sounds so plausible. Sesame crops up (oh dear) everywhere.
I once noticed signs for seeds (probably including ajonjoli or sesame) when I passed through Cortazar and arranged to make it a destination on a later trip. Alas, I didn’t know about Dipasa. Otherwise, I can tell you, Cortazar (which is not as small as you might think) is unredeemably dull downtown, especially gastronomically. Not long ago, I sat next to a pair of folks from Cortazar who come fairly regularly to Guanajuato for concerts and then pop over to Leon to “eat well.”
I wonder whether the many people of Lebanese descent in Yucatan feast on Dipasa products from the Bajio.
Talking of Dipasa Mexico, I did export a lot of sesame seeds to Dipasa for the last 20 years or so, as an exporter when I was working and after retirement as an intermediary and continue till today. As far as my experience goes they are very fair in their dealings and know the sesame business well. Nice people to work with.
Many thanks for that information. Should I understand this to mean that they import a lot of seeds from India?
My name is César Coello. My father is the founder of Dipasa and I am currently active in the company. Unfortunately, we only just discovered this blog and are delighted with your interest and views in our Company and in sesame products in general.
We are processors of sesame seed and sesame products and our quality and service is second to none. We have been present in the world market since 1974 and have established a firm reputation as an industry leader.
We would like to take this opportunity to offer any service and information that might help you become more interested in sesame products.
Thank you for your attention.
Dear sr Coello,
I am delighted to be in touch with you. I will return to my earlier post which I think will prompt some questions for you.
Dear Rachel Laudan,
Most of our production is based on Mexican grown sesame seeds. To complement our production, we import top quality seeds from other countries. Regarding India, we solely import from quality conscious growers and exporters, as Mr. Radha Krishnan accurately mentioned.
Thank you for your interest.
Kindest Regards,
César Coello