Sesame Oil

<p ><b>Sesame oil</b>&nbsp;(also known as&nbsp;<b>gingelly oil</b>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<b>til oil</b>) is an edible&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_oil" title="Vegetable oil" class="mw-redirect" >vegetable oil</a>&nbsp;derived from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_seed" title="Sesame seed" class="mw-redirect" >sesame seeds</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>

Besides being used as a&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_oil" title="Cooking oil" >cooking oil</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_India" title="South India" >South India</a>, it is often used as a flavor enhancer in&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_cuisine" title="Chinese cuisine" >Chinese</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cuisine" title="Japanese cuisine" >Japanese</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_cuisine" title="Korean cuisine" >Korean</a>, and to a lesser extent&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian" title="Southeast Asian" class="mw-redirect" >Southeast Asian</a> cuisine.</p>

<p>

The oil from the&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame#Nutrition_and_health_treatments" title="Sesame" >nutrient rich seed</a>&nbsp;is popular in&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine" >alternative medicine</a>&nbsp;- from&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchakarma#Pre-treatment" title="Panchakarma" >traditional </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massage#Ayurvedic_massage" title="Massage" >massages</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirodhara" title="Shirodhara" >treatments</a>&nbsp;to modern day&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling" title="Oil pulling" >fads</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>

The traditional Indian medical practice of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda" title="Ayurveda" >Ayurveda</a>&nbsp;uses sesame oil to&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_oil#Stress_and_tension" title="Sesame oil" >pacify stress related symptoms</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_oil#cite_note-0" >[1]</a></sup>&nbsp;</p>

<p>

Ongoing research also indicates that the rich presence of antioxidants and polyunsaturated fats in sesame oil could help control blood pressure.</p>

<p>

The oil is popular in Asia and is also one of the earliest known crop-based oils, but world-wide mass modern production continues to be limited even today due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil.</p>