:''The term "sesame candy" may also refer to sesame

halva Halva (also halvah, halwa, and other spellings, Persian : حلوا) is a type of confectionery originating from Persia and widely spread throughout the Middle East. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made f ...

.'' Sesame seed candy is a

confection Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

sesame seeds Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

pressed into a bar or ball. It is popular from the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

through

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. The texture may vary from chewy to crisp. It may also be called sesame (seed) candy/bar/crunch;

sesame seed cake Sesame seed cake () is a cake made of sesame seeds, often combined with honey as a sweetener. The cake is round and is brown in color with sesame seeds sprinkled evenly on the surface of the cake. It is quite similar to the Huangqiao sesame ca ...

may refer to the confection or to a leavened

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...

incorporating sesame.

By location

Greece and Cyprus

In Greece and Cyprus, sesame seed candy is called pasteli and is generally a flat, oblong bar made with honey and often including nuts. Though the modern name παστέλι ''pasteli'' is of Italian origin, very similar foods are documented in

Ancient Greek cuisine Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality for most, reflecting agricultural hardship, but a great diversity of ingredients was known, and wealthy Greeks were known to celebrate with elaborate meals and feasts. The cuisine was found ...

: the Cretan ''koptoplakous'' (κοπτοπλακοῦς) or ''gastris'' (γάστρις) was a layer of ground nuts sandwiched between two layers of sesame crushed with honey.

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

also mentions "sweet cakes of sesame and honey", but with no detail.

Indian subcontinent

Various kinds of sesame candy are found in the

cuisine of the Indian subcontinent Cuisine of the Indian subcontinent includes the cuisines from the Indian subcontinent comprising the traditional cuisines from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Staples and common ingredients Chapati, a ...

. Sesame Candy in the forms of Rewri/Revri ("candy coated with sesame seeds"), as well as

Gajak Gajak (also ''gachak'') is a dessert or confection originating in north-central India. It is a dry sweet made of sesame seeds (''til'') or peanuts and jaggery. The ''til'' is cooked in the raw sugar syrup and set in thin layers, which can be sto ...

("sugar or jaggery sweet with sesame seeds"), is widely eaten in northern India and Pakistan; the cities of

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and

Chakwal Chakwal ( Punjabi and ur, ) is a city in Rawalpindi Division, Punjab province, Pakistan. It is the 66th largest city of Pakistan by population. Chakwal is located 90 kilometres south-west of the federal capital, Islamabad and 270 kilomet ...

are very famous for this product. The

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

''tilor laru'' is an Assamese breakfast snack. The Maharashtran ''tilgul ladoo'' is a ball of sesame and sugar flavored with

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

s and

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are rec ...

and associated with the festival of

Makar Sankranti Makar(a) Sankranti (), also referred to as Uttarayana, Maghi, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 14 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sag ...

Vietnam

A variety of sesame seed candy containing peanuts, alongside sesame seeds and granulated sugar, is produced in the central

Quảng Ngãi Quảng Ngãi () is a city in central Vietnam. It serves as the capital city of Quảng Ngãi Province. Quảng Ngãi City borders Tư Nghĩa District to the south and west, Sơn Tịnh District to the northwest and Bình Sơn District to the n ...

province where it is referred to as Kẹo Gương. It is believed to have been produced in the region for more than 400 years.

Gallery

File:Ajonjoli-HappyCocoBites dulces tipicos de puerto rico.jpg, Puerto Rican sesame seed candy File:Kefalonian pasteli.jpg, A Greek pasteli File:Gur Rewari (a kind of Gajak) from Lucknow, a traditional Indian snack made with Jaggery and crunchy sesame seeds in the form of crispy bars.jpg, Gur Rewari ("Gud-til gajak") from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Notes