Wadaman Dark Roasted Golden Sesame Oil

300 ml bottle - Japan

Wadaman's Dark Roasted Golden Sesame Oil comes from a sesame house with deep roots. Wadaman Co., Ltd. was founded in 1883 in Tenma, Osaka, a district where dried-food merchants had gathered since the Edo period, and it has spent more than 140 years doing essentially one thing: sesame.

It's now a fifth-generation family business, and the figure most associated with its reputation is Etsuji Wada, the fourth-generation owner, who has personally roasted the seeds for over 45 years and is widely regarded as one of Japan's finest sesame roasters.

Wadaman sources sesame from some of the world's finest growing regions. Since 2010, it has also been working to revive sesame cultivation in Japan, partnering with more than 200 contracted farmers while cultivating its own organic fields in Nara Prefecture. That's remarkable in a country that imports nearly all of the sesame it consumes.

The seeds undergo repeated washing, cleaning and sorting before roasting. Roasters adjust temperatures in single-degree increments until the seeds reach their optimum, then cameras and laser sorters remove any that fail inspection.

The roasting technique itself is the signature. Wadaman uses a triple-roasting process — low temperature, then high, then low again — producing plump, evenly roasted seeds with a delicate, nuanced flavor. 

For the oil, Wadaman keeps the process deliberately restrained. Only the first pressing is used, requiring about 5 kg of sesame seeds to produce a single litre of oil. The result is a bright, clear oil that's subtle rather than overpowering. "Golden" refers to the sesame variety itself, and the only ingredient is golden sesame seeds.

Rich in flavor yet surprisingly delicate, it shines as a finishing oil over blanched vegetables, light broths, steamed dumplings, cold noodle salads, or thick-cut steaks and pork chops. It also adds depth to marinades and stir-fries.

ingredients: golden sesame seeds