Hulled vs. Unhulled Sesame Seeds: Calcium, Bitterness and When the Hull Matters

Hulled and unhulled sesame are the same seed of Sesamum indicum, with and without its outer coat. In the kitchen, hulled seed is paler and milder; unhulled seed is a little more bitter and crunchy, and it keeps the coat’s color, which can be white, brown or black depending on the plant. The bigger difference is calcium. Taking the coat off strips most of it: USDA lists 989 mg per 100 g for whole toasted seed against 131 mg for hulled toasted kernels.¹² It also removes, food-processing researchers say, the oxalates and bitterness that sit in the hull.³

Side by side

The USDA figures are SR Legacy entries for whole roasted and toasted seed and for toasted, hulled (“decorticated”) kernels.¹² Neither entry gives seed color or origin, so they describe the categories, not any particular bag.

Color is the cultivar, not the hull

You’ll hear that unhulled seeds are brown and hulled seeds are white. That’s only true for some seed. PROSEA lists seed color (white, gray, yellow-white, brown or black) as one of the traits that tell sesame cultivars apart,⁵ and a 2022 study found black seeds get their color from a melanin-like pigment in the seed coat.⁶ So an unhulled seed can be white, brown or black, depending on the plant. Hulling removes whatever color the coat had. For the black-and-white question, see black vs. white sesame seeds.

What hulling changes

Calcium and minerals

Calcium is the big one. In USDA’s toasted entries, whole seed has 989 mg per 100 g and hulled kernels 131 mg. By our math, that’s about seven and a half times as much in the whole seed. Per ounce (28.35 g, USDA’s portion), it works out to roughly 280 mg against 37 mg. Iron and copper are higher in the whole toasted seed too (14.8 mg and 2.47 mg per 100 g) than in the kernels (7.78 mg and 1.46 mg).¹²

How much of that calcium your body absorbs is another question. PROSEA notes the seed is rich in phytic and oxalic acid, which bind calcium.⁵ We found no study measuring calcium absorption from hulled versus whole sesame.

Fiber: the sources point in different directions

These measure different things: total dietary fiber in eating seed, crude fiber in pressed oilseed cake, and a general description of flour. Don’t read them as one answer. On USDA’s figures, if you’re eating toasted seed, choosing hulled kernels doesn’t cost you fiber.

B vitamins and vitamin E

USDA’s toasted kernels list more thiamin (1.20 mg vs. 0.803 mg per 100 g), riboflavin (0.466 vs. 0.251 mg) and niacin (5.44 vs. 4.58 mg) than the whole toasted seed. The kernel entry gives 0.25 mg of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) per 100 g. The whole toasted entry has no vitamin E figure, so you can’t compare the two on it.¹²

Oxalates and bitterness

Researchers who studied industrial dehulling call it important because it “eliminates oxalates in the hull,” and describe dehulled sesame flour as white and free of bitterness.³ A 2014 Nigerian study likewise says phytate and oxalate usually sit in the seed hulls.⁴ PROSEA links sesame’s slight bitterness to its phytic and oxalic acids binding calcium.⁵ Taken together, those sources back up what cooks notice: unhulled seed tastes a little more bitter. None of them measures oxalate in retail hulled and unhulled seed side by side, though, so we have no figure for how much hulling removes.

If you’ve been told to limit oxalate, hulled sesame is the lower-oxalate choice going by these sources. Still, ask your clinician or dietitian how much sesame of either kind fits your plan. We found no figure to give you.

Oil and processing

PROSEA says most sesame is processed with the coats on, even though hulled seed makes higher-quality oil and meal.⁵ Dehulling is fiddly. Moharram and colleagues describe the traditional method, soaking seeds and separating the hulls in brine, which takes a lot of water and loses about 19 percent of the seed.³

Health claims

Sesame often gets credit for protecting the heart. A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials found sesame lowered blood triglycerides, an effect that came from sesame oil, not seeds, and that it didn’t significantly change total cholesterol.⁷ Nothing we found shows one form of seed is healthier than the other. Sesame in any form is one of the nine major food allergens in the United States, and it has to be declared on packaged foods.⁸

Can one stand in for the other?

Yes. They’re the same seed, so this isn’t a flavor swap in the usual sense.

• Ratio (Method): 1 to 1 by volume, either way. What changes is how the dish looks and, a little, how it tastes.
• Hulled for unhulled. Expect a milder, paler result. Toasting the kernels first helps; Katzer notes that much of toasted sesame’s flavor comes from compounds that form only during toasting.⁹ To make up the difference, try using a little more or toasting a little darker. We found no test of that, so taste as you go.
• Unhulled for hulled. Expect a slightly bitter edge, more crunch and the coat’s color. In a pale paste or a delicate dessert you’ll notice; on a bread crust or in a savory dish you usually won’t.

Out of sesame entirely? See sesame seed substitutes.

When to use which

• Hulled: hamburger buns, rolls and bagels, cookies and brittle, and pale homemade pastes, where a clean look and mild taste help.
• Unhulled: savory toppings, seed mixes and coatings where the coat’s color, crunch and slightly stronger taste are welcome, and whenever the calcium matters to you.

What isn’t known

• We found no measurement of oxalate in retail hulled versus unhulled sesame. The sources say oxalates are concentrated in the hull but don’t say how much hulling removes.³⁴
• We found no study of calcium absorption from hulled versus whole sesame.
• We found no sensory study comparing hulled and unhulled seed.
• USDA’s whole toasted entry gives no vitamin E figure.¹
• We found no dated price comparison.

Related

• Sesame seeds and black sesame seeds
• Black vs. white sesame seeds
• Sesame seed substitutes and poppy seeds
• Gomasio, furikake and everything bagel seasoning