Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Black Sesame Seed

Analysing hundreds of thousands of recipes uncovers black sesame seed's optimal flavour pairings.

Roasted aroma and seminal notes are at the forefront of black sesame seed's flavour profile, but identifying its perfect partner requires exploring its subtle nuances. We must examine the complex interplay of notes within its bouquet, like char, almond, and hints of cocoa. We need to understand how these notes affect each other and which complementary flavors they harmonise with.

To chart these harmonies, we analysed thousands of ingredients, each deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, pinpointing the notes that best complement this ingredient’s profile. Our findings reveal, for instance, how short-grain rice's oryzan tones can embrace black sesame seed, or how white rice's oryzan notes create an unexpectedly harmonious bridge with the roasted aroma.

An ingredient's flavour stems from its core characteristics, such as maillard, earthy, or floral, combined with layers of subtle flavour notes (outer bars). For a balanced dish, pair ingredients with a variety of core flavours, and choose complementary aroma notes for harmony.

Flavour Pairing Method

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Sesame Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of sesame is strongly associated with the flavour of rice. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a rice-like flavour, such as white rice, when pairing with the sesame notes of black sesame seed.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing black sesame seed with white rice.

Harmonious Flavours Of Black Sesame Seed

Just as our analysis revealed that sesame and koji notes are harmonious, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the notes present in black sesame seed. For instance, the seedy accents of black sesame seed are strongly associated with hibiscine and pencil-lead accents.

The notes linked to the various notes of black sesame seed can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of short-grain rice offers many of the notes complementary to black sesame seed, including rice and lacteal notes. Because the flavour profile of short-grain rice has many of the of the features that are complementary to black sesame seed, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of short-grain rice across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with black sesame seed.

Recipes That Pair Black Sesame Seed With Short-grain Rice

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the aroma notes that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of black sesame seed, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of black sesame seed, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aroma accents complementary to black sesame seed.

What To Drink With Black Sesame Seed

The rice notes in sake make it a perfect pairing with black sesame seed. Likewise, the rice flavours in rice wine create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of black sesame seed below.

Which Fruit Go With Black Sesame Seed?

Choose fruit that enrich its toastiness or infuse with its roasted nut aroma. Red bell pepper and papaya offer vibrant, clean counterpoints, their verdant freshness lifting the palate. Peach add a gentle, oniony brightness, while blood orange introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace fruit that harmonise with black sesame seed's nuttyness. The addition of pomegranate molasses, with its subtle astringent notes, can complement the almond beautifully, while coconut lends a mouth-drying sensation.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Black sesame seed), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.