Benne

benne oil; benne seed

Benne (sesame) seeds were secretly brought to America on the slave ships by black women who had used them in their native cooking. Benne seed cookies and candy were made by black cooks in Charleston and other lowcountry South Carolina locations.

For example, Rosanna Williams recounted that her African-born father would "plant mostly benne and rice." Emma Hunter also remembered that her grandmother planted benne.

A window on the small-scale world of sesame oil production and benne cake livestock feeding is found in the pages of Thomas Walter Peyre's plantation journal (1834–59) at the South Carolina Historical Society.[…]African Anerican farming of benne can be imputed only by anecdotal reports, yet numerous records attest to benne’s importance in the slave diet. Indeed, a complex benne cookery adapted from African practices was recorded.