Black Foods in Chinese Cooking: Sesame, Beans and the Autumn Kitchen
Walk through a Chinese grocery in autumn and you'll notice something about what's stacked at the front: black sesame, black beans, black rice, black dates. It isn't a coincidence or a trend. Colour carries meaning in Chinese food culture, and black has a specific place in it, one tied to the colder half of the year. This article looks at what "black foods" means in the Chinese kitchen, and how to actually cook with the two most useful of them.
Why Black?
Chinese food thinking is organised around the five elements, and each element carries a colour, a season and a set of associated foods. Black belongs to Water, the element of winter, and in traditional theory Water is associated with the Kidney, understood not as the anatomical organ but as the functional system the tradition regards as the store of the body's deep reserves.
Follow that logic through and you get the traditional practice: as the year turns colder, black foods come forward in the kitchen. It's the same seasonal thinking that puts cooling foods on the table in summer, applied to the other end of the year. Whether or not you find the framework persuasive, it has produced a set of genuinely excellent ingredients and dishes, and that's reason enough to know them.
Black Sesame: The Star of the Group
Black sesame seeds, hei zhi ma, are the most versatile and by some distance the most delicious. They're richer, nuttier and more intense than white sesame, with a slight bitterness that makes them work in sweet dishes where white sesame would be bland.
Toast them first, always. This is the single most important thing. Raw black sesame tastes flat and faintly dusty. Two or three minutes in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking constantly until they smell strongly nutty and start to pop, transforms them completely. Do this even if the recipe doesn't say to.
Black sesame soup (hei zhi ma hu). The classic. Toast 100g of black sesame seeds, then blend with 2 tablespoons of glutinous rice flour, 600ml of water and sugar to taste, and cook gently in a pan for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring, until thickened to a smooth, dark, pourable soup. Served warm in small bowls, it's one of the great Chinese desserts: silky, deeply nutty and completely unlike anything in the Western sweet repertoire.
Black sesame paste. Toast the seeds and blend with a little neutral oil and a pinch of salt until it becomes a thick, glossy paste, exactly as you would to make tahini. Sweeten it and it becomes a filling for glutinous rice balls or buns; leave it savoury and it's excellent on toast, stirred into noodles, or used as a dressing base.
Everyday uses. Toasted and ground, black sesame goes into congee, over rice, into porridge, folded into baking, or simply scattered over roasted vegetables and steamed fish. Grinding matters if you want the flavour to carry: whole seeds often pass through intact.
Black Beans: Not the Ones You're Thinking Of
A clarification first, because this trips people up constantly. Black beans (hei dou) are whole dried soybeans with black skins. They are not the salty fermented black beans, douchi, used in black bean sauce, and they're not Mexican black turtle beans either. Three different ingredients, one confusing name in English.
Hei dou are firmer and nuttier than turtle beans and hold their shape well through long cooking, which makes them ideal for exactly the sort of slow-simmered dishes the Chinese kitchen specialises in.
In soups and broths. Their most common use. Soak overnight, then add to a long-simmered soup or a herbal bone broth at the start of cooking, often alongside jujube dates. They add body and a mild, earthy sweetness.
Black bean tea. A quietly brilliant one. Dry-toast the beans in a pan until they smell nutty and the skins begin to split, then steep a tablespoon in hot water for five minutes. The result is a clear, roasted, faintly sweet drink with no caffeine, and it keeps well made in a jug.
In congee. Soaked black beans cooked into a herbal congee add texture and substance to what is otherwise a very soft dish.
Building an Autumn Combination
These ingredients were designed to be used together rather than alone. A simple traditional pairing: black beans, jujube dates and a few slices of dried ginger, simmered for an hour, produces a warming, lightly sweet broth that needs nothing else. Add goji berries in the last few minutes for colour, and you have the whole seasonal logic in one pot: warming, slow-cooked, mildly sweet, no added sugar required.
Ground toasted black sesame stirred into that same congee or porridge in the morning completes the picture, and takes about a minute.
Buying and Storing
Black sesame seeds should smell faintly nutty even raw, and look glossy rather than dull and dusty. Because of their oil content they can go rancid, so buy quantities you'll get through and store them airtight in a cool dark cupboard, or the fridge if you keep them a long time. Ground sesame or paste should always go in the fridge.
Black beans keep almost indefinitely dried, though older beans take longer to soften. Soaking overnight is worth doing regardless.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are "black foods" in Chinese cooking?
Foods associated with the Water element and the colder half of the year in the five-element framework: black sesame, black beans, black rice, black dates and similar. The colour carries seasonal meaning rather than being incidental.
Do I need to toast black sesame seeds?
Yes. Toasting is what brings out the flavour, and raw seeds taste noticeably flat by comparison. Two to three minutes in a dry pan is enough.
Are black beans the same as black bean sauce?
No. Black bean sauce is made from fermented salted black soybeans (douchi). Hei dou are the plain dried beans, used in soups, congee and teas.
Is black sesame healthier than white?
They're nutritionally similar, with black having a more intense flavour and a stronger place in Chinese tradition. Neither is a health food as such; both are useful, nutritious ingredients.
How do I make black sesame taste less bitter?
Proper toasting reduces the bitterness considerably, and a little sweetness balances what remains. Over-toasting to the point of scorching makes it worse.
Can I use ground black sesame instead of whole?
Yes, and for most uses it's better, since whole seeds often pass through without releasing their flavour. Toast first, then grind.
Find black sesame, black beans, jujube dates and the rest of the autumn cupboard in our DaoDi culinary herbs collection.
Food supplements and culinary herbs should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet. This article is for general information only and is not intended as medical advice.