Gomasio

Mmmm, roasted sesame seed salt.

Darcey mentioned gomasio here, and I've finally gotten around to making some:

Roast 4 tablespoons sesame seed in a dry pan until golden-brown; don't let the seeds burn. Some of the recipes I found on the web said to wait until a few of the seeds popped, but I didn't wait for that long.

While the seeds are still warm: grind them up in a mortar and pestle until about 3/4 are all ground-up and the rest are either still whole or partly ground.

Pic: Dried and roasted sesame seed, and gomasio. Grinding is very easy while the seeds are still warm, they're soft as anything.

Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix, pour into a washed spice jar with a tight lid, keep in the fridge, use up within a month.

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The seeds are very oily, and as they're all ground-up the oil is now exposed to air - and will go rancid fairly soon.

Very nice. I think I can switch my almost-addiction from roasted-sesame-seed honey bars to roasted-sesame-seed salt.

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One or the other website said that this gives you less sodium in the diet, as you use it instead of salt.

Sodium is not always a thing to avoid. In fact, sodium is a thing to eat more of, if you're one of the underactive "cold" liver + underactive "cold" kidney + low blood pressure folks. That particular combination means sodium disappears with the copious very watery urine all the time, and they need their sodium. Use gomasio, sure, but also make sure that you get enough sodium in your food.

Ladies notice that they belong to this group when they crave salty potato chips (crisps) or similar before menses. Heed this particular craving or you'll end up feeling faint and light-headed.

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Related entry: Hot vs. cold liver