Gomasio (Gomashio): Japanese Sesame Salt, Its Ratios and How to Make It

Toasted sesame and salt. That’s the whole recipe for gomasio, or gomashio (ごま塩, “sesame salt”), one of the simplest Japanese table seasonings. It goes over plain rice and is essential on the red-bean rice sekihan. Simple doesn’t mean settled, though: published ratios run anywhere from 8 to 18 parts sesame to each part salt. It also has a place in the macrobiotic diet, along with some history worth knowing.

At a glance

What gomasio is

JustBento’s Makiko Itoh calls gomashio the most basic furikake, the family of dry Japanese rice toppings. Katzer describes it as a simple mix of toasted sesame seeds with about 10% salt.⁵ There’s no single recipe: the seed-to-salt ratio, whether the seeds get ground, and whether the salt gets toasted all vary from cook to cook.

For sesame itself, see black sesame seeds and black vs. white sesame seeds. Milk Street prefers unhulled seeds, which it describes as larger, plumper and nuttier.³ See also hulled vs. unhulled sesame seeds.

The ratio: sources disagree

Named recipes and references give pretty different proportions. Here they are side by side, not averaged.

Gourmandelle credits the 18:1 ratio to George Ohsawa in one passage,² but we found no primary macrobiotic source for that number, and the 5:1 lower bound that also floats around online has no source we could trace at all.

At 8:1 or 10:1 by weight, salt makes up roughly a tenth of the mix, by our math. Weight and volume ratios aren’t interchangeable, so compare like with like.

Ratio (Method): Begin at 10:1 by weight, taste it on rice, and add seed or salt from there.

How to make it

The two published methods take different routes.

• JustBento’s method dissolves the salt in water, then toasts the raw seeds in that brine over medium-low heat until they start to pop, so each whole seed gets its own coat of salt. Itoh considered grinding the salt finely in a suribachi instead and went with the brine. She advises against grinding the seeds, because that releases oils that go rancid quickly. An oven version toasts the seeds at 150 °C for about 5 minutes first.¹
• Gourmandelle’s macrobiotic method toasts the salt in a dry pan, toasts the seeds until they start to crack, then grinds them together lightly in a mortar, or a suribachi (a Japanese mortar) if you have one.²

A spice grinder can stand in for a mortar if you pulse it briefly. Whichever method you use, the mix has to be completely dry before it goes into a jar.¹

How gomasio is used

• On rice. It’s a multipurpose Japanese seasoning for rice, stir-fries and grilled foods.
• Sekihan. Gomashio is essential for osekihan, the azuki bean and rice dish.
• Everyday use: on rice balls, steamed or roasted vegetables, eggs, tofu, salads and avocado toast, and as a finishing salt anywhere a nutty crunch helps.

Gomasio and macrobiotics

The macrobiotic diet traces back to Ishizuka Sagen (1850–1910), a Japanese army doctor of the Meiji period who blamed Japan’s adoption of Western food for a decline in health and urged a return to traditional foods like unpolished rice, sea vegetables and beans. George Ohsawa (1893–1966, also known as Sakurazawa Yukikazu) published his first work on yin–yang theory in 1931 and later named the regimen macrobiotics. The SAGE encyclopedia entry describes the diet as built on whole grains, especially brown rice, with vegetables, fermented foods and a limited amount of animal products. It lists sesame salt (gomashio) among the sodium-rich foods in Ohsawa’s diet, with soy sauce, miso and pickles.⁶

The same entry records that Ohsawa claimed macrobiotics could cure all diseases in 10 days and advised severely restricting water intake.⁶ We’re reporting those claims as history. They aren’t supported, and we don’t recommend them.

We couldn’t confirm claims that Ishizuka was Ohsawa’s personal mentor, that the diet is pescatarian, or that parts of it date to the 17th century.

Salt and health

You’ll often see gomasio pitched as a low-sodium alternative to table salt. It does have less salt than the same weight of plain salt, in proportion to its ratio, but whether it lowers your sodium intake depends entirely on how much you sprinkle. That’s just math; we found no study of gomasio and blood pressure. Ohsawa himself counted it among sodium-rich foods.⁶ We’re not claiming gomasio treats or prevents high blood pressure or anything else.

We couldn’t support claims that gomasio supplies significant magnesium, zinc, iron or B vitamins per serving, or that seaweed versions fix iodine deficiency. For what sesame itself contains, see black sesame seeds.

Safety

Gomasio is mostly sesame. The FASTER Act made sesame the ninth major food allergen in the US, effective 1 January 2023.⁴ The FDA has reported that some manufacturers started adding sesame to products that didn’t contain it before, and advises checking the label every time you buy a product.⁷

Storage

JustBento says gomashio keeps for about a month in an airtight container in a cool, dry place like a pantry or fridge, as long as it was completely dry when packed. Milk Street says to refrigerate it airtight for a few weeks.³ Ground versions go stale faster: Itoh warns that ground seeds release oils that turn rancid quickly.¹ Smell it before you use it. A stale or bitter smell means it’s past its best.

Substitutes and comparisons

• Gomasio substitutes
• Gomasio vs. furikake and furikake seasoning
• Sesame seeds and black sesame seeds
• Shichimi togarashi
• Table salt and sea salt