Cold Pressed Sesame Oil — Nallennai, Wood Pressed

Cold pressed sesame oil — nallennai in Tamil, gingelly oil in English — crushed from cleaned whole sesame seed in a wooden press. Deep amber, strongly nutty, and stable enough to be the traditional pickling and frying oil across South India long before refined oils existed.

How we make it

Sesame seed is cleaned and stone-sorted, then pressed cold in a wooden chekku. Sesame is unusual: it contains sesamol and sesamin, natural antioxidants that make the unrefined oil keep far better than most. That is why traditional pickles are sealed under a layer of it. We filter through cloth and bottle; nothing is bleached or deodorised.

What goes in, what stays out

One ingredient: sesame seed. No refined oil blend, no synthetic antioxidant, no colour. Note that some products labelled 'gingelly oil' are refined sesame blended with cheaper oils — ours is single-seed and cold pressed, and the aroma makes that obvious.

How to use it

• Pickling — the traditional oil for avakaya and Tamil oorugai, because it preserves
• Tempering for Andhra and Tamil cooking
• Deep frying, where it is more heat-stable than most unrefined oils
• Idli podi and chutney podi, mixed in raw
• Abhyanga oil massage

How to store it

Cool, dark cupboard, tightly capped. Sesame oil keeps longer than other unrefined oils thanks to its own antioxidants — comfortably six to nine months. No refrigeration needed.

What it is called

Where to buy it

Milled to order at our Kondapur and Serilingampally stores in Hyderabad, or shipped across India. Browse the rest of our Freshly Extracted Oil range, or see cold pressed groundnut oil and cold pressed mustard oil. If you want the background, read how to spot adulterated spice at home.

Frequently asked questions