Tahini cuneiform document written 4000 years ago that describes the custom of serving the gods sesame wine. The historian Herodotus writes about the cultivation of sesame 3500 years ago in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia. It was mainly used as a source of oil. Tahini is mentioned as an ingredient of "hummus kasa", a recipe transcribed in an anonymous 13th-century Arabic cookbook, "Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada". Sesame paste is an ingredient in some Chinese and Japanese dishes; Sichuan cuisine uses it in some recipes for dandan noodles. Sesame paste is also used in Indian cuisine. In the
Babao seal paste Babao seal paste Babao seal paste () is a traditional handicraft made in Zhangzhou, Fujian, China. It dates to the Qing Dynasty and is honoured as one of Zhangzhou's "Three Precious Treasures". In 1983, its recipe was guarded as "top secret" by the Chinese Ministry of Light Industry. Babao seal paste was added to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2008 and the China Time-honored Brand list by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in 2011. Babao seal paste is made from eight precious materials: musk, pearl, rhesus macaque bezoar, agate, coral, gold, borneolum and amber. These ingredients are ground