Black sesame is also among the most popular fillings for foods

Enjoying foods with beautiful colors is a visually delightful experience – think about a slice of yellow-colored cake versus a slice of blue-colored cake.

Black isn't a color that's as appetizing as orange and green, but in Chinese culinary culture, some black foods are highly regarded for their flavor as well as nutritional value.

This week, we'll take a look at the most popular black-colored foods in China and how they help the body.

Black sesame seeds

Black sesame

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), black sesame is known for its anti-aging properties, especially for nourishing the scalp and stimulating hair growth. It's unknown how well black sesame works in this matter, but numerous people are willing to give it a try and incorporate more black sesame in meals and snacks.

Compared to white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds have a nuttier flavor. The price of black sesame seeds is also slightly higher than their white counterpart. Toasted seeds are more aromatic than raw ones, which can be topped over cold salad dishes and stir-fries as a finishing touch.

Nutritionally, black sesame seeds contain key vitamins and minerals needed for good health, including calcium, thiamine, manganese and zinc. They also contain antioxidants and promote bone health.

Black sesame paste is a popular dessert and snack with thick texture. It's sold as a convenient powder to be prepared by simply adding boiling water and stirring until everything is smooth and blended.

Black sesame balls are an even more convenient alternative to black sesame paste for people looking to supplement their daily diets with a dose of black sesame. The black balls are quite large and individually packaged.

It's worth noting that both black sesame paste and black sesame balls contain added sugar to sweeten the taste, so moderate consumption is advised.

Black sesame is also among the most popular fillings for sweet pastries, cakes and desserts.

Grounded black sesame seeds mixed with lard is an iconic filling for tangyuan, or glutinous rice balls, the must-have dish for celebrating Lantern Festival. No doubt the recipe is a calorie bomb, as it's high in fat (from both the sesame seeds and lard) and sugar (added sugar to sweeten the filling and carbs from the glutinous rice wrapper), but it's difficult to say no to the gooey rice balls with runny filling.

With pastries, the filling needs to be drier and denser in texture. As the Mid-Autumn Festival is drawing near, black sesame is a classic mooncake flavor, especially popular with elders. Adding nuts or oats can elevate the filling.

Julite Grain Seed Cleaning Machine 5XFZ-25S Air Screen with Gravity Table Cleaning Machine to remove bad seeds

remove bad seeds from Sesame seed Beans Corn Maize.