Friday, April 04, 2008
Where I am from, the Lowcountry of South Carolina, benne seeds have a long tradition. They were brought over by the slaves from west Africa. The name “benne” is the Nigerian name for sesame seeds. But if you say “benne” in Charleston or Savannah, everyone will know what you are talking about.
They are a good luck food, and have various superstitions attached to them. I always heard to throw them over your left shoulder from the porch and your true love will hunt you down. They also say that once you start planting them, you must plant them every day until you die to keep the good luck you receive from them.
I think many people think them to be a sort of grain, but they actually grow on very attractive leafy plant. The seed pods are like those on touch-me-nots and you have to be careful gathering them. They are one of the oldest edible seeds known to man and have been used world wide since pre-history. The Chinese have been using them for 5000 years and were used by the Egyptians and Romans.
I usually buy large bags of them from the Oriental grocery store rather than fooling with those itty little spice bottles. If you toast them in a dry skillet, they are superb sprinkled on everything from soup and salads to meat and fish dishes. They can be used both sweet and savory. They are so amazingly versatile that I find it unusual that we Americans don’t do more with them.
Many of you are familiar with Tahini, which is basically benne butter. It’s the key ingredient for hummus along with chick peas.
The recipe I am passing on to you today is from the famous Charleston Receipts cookbook. If I were only allowed to have two Southern cookbooks, one of them would be Charleston Receipts. The other would be the River Road Recipes. Between those two books you have all the jewels of Southern food culture.
Benne Seed Wafers
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup plain flour (all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Toast your sesame seeds and let cool. Cream the butter and sugar, adding beaten egg, then the flour that has been sifted with salt and baking powder. Add the vanilla and Sesame seeds. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 325°F oven. Allow to cool one minute before removing them from the cookie sheet and place on cooling rack. This makes a transparent cookie wafer.
Give these a try. I think you will be very pleased. They are excellent with tea or coffee and are an elegant little cookie to display for guests. Because they are thin and crisp, they are excellent served with ice cream. Very pretty to just stick in the top of a scoop of sherbet or some peach ice cream.
1 Comment:
-
4/06/2008
"Molto bene!"
