Since Guangdong Zhuang’s Sesame Milk became popular, black sesame, a traditional ingredient, has also ushered in a new life in the Chinese baking industry. By 2025, the scale of China’s baking market has reached RMB 100 billion, and the combination with the concept of the same origin of medicinal food is opening up new growth space for it.

Nowadays, black sesame has changed from a limited flavour to a ‘star ingredient’ in daily baking. From the continuous popularity of black sesame cakes and bread, to the ‘Chinese medicine pharmacy style’ baking on social networks, it is no longer just a food from past memories, but has gained a popular role in baking innovation with both health and flavour.

How black sesame turned hot

It is no coincidence that black sesame is popular in the baking industry. Under the joint embrace of all circles of society, black sesame has gradually risen from the corner of the supermarket shelves to the C position of the bakery shops. In 2025, the scale of China’s ‘food as medicine’ market has exceeded RMB 370 billion, and the valuation of the whole industry chain will exceed RMB 2 trillion.

This trend has directly promoted the upgrading of the entire black sesame industry. In recent years, the National Health Commission has accelerated the expansion of the ‘food as medicine’ catalogue, which now covers 106 kinds of food substances. In 2025, the government proposed to simplify the identification process and shorten the cycle to inject new momentum into the development of the industry.

The transformation of consumer demand is equally crucial. The data of Internet platforms like Meituan and Xiaohongshu confirm this trend: 72% of the post-90s generation have replaced traditional health care products with functional snacks, and the number of readings on the topic of ‘health snacks’ on Xiaohongshu has exceeded 800 million.

Young consumers have shown a strong interest in the modern expression of traditional health wisdom, transforming black sesame from a simple ‘food for the elderly’ to a synonym for fashion and health.

The transformation of black sesame, which traditionally exists in the form of paste, has experienced a texture leap from liquid to solid in modern baking.

Innovative applications such as black sesame thousand-layer cake, black sesame rock sauce, black sesame sweet potato, black sesame raw filling, etc. have emerged one after another.

The leap of aesthetic style also adds bricks to the popularity of black sesame. The natural dark gray colour of black sesame perfectly fits the ‘new Chinese aesthetics’ and ‘minimal industrial style’. In boutique bakeries in New York and London, black sesame is often combined with miso and sea salt to form a visual style called ‘Charcoal Aesthetic’.

Charcoal Aesthetic is an emerging design and marketing concept in contemporary consumer culture, especially in the fields of baking and beverages. It does not refer to the artistic creation using charcoal pens, but refers to a visual style and product aesthetics with deep, high-grade black or charcoal gray as the core, emphasising natural, rustic, textured and mysterious.

For example, Onion, a Korean Internet celebrity bakery, specialises in looking for old houses with a sense of age. The cement decoration style is popular with young consumers.

The research of the Institute of Oil Crops of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences reveals the scientific basis of black sesame flavour: sesame food contains 187 flavour compounds with aroma contributions, and its rich aroma and unique taste are addictive.

At present, a variety of black sesame hot products have emerged on the market:

• Holiland Black Sesame Five Black Crisps triggered a rush to buy as soon as it was launched.
• Master Nanyang’s black sesame chicken cake has become a popular new product, and some stores have sold more than 100 copies in a week.
• Five black mulberry buns developed by Fu’e Baking (Chongqing), black sesame + black beans + black rice stir-fried and ground flour, add dough with whole wheat flour, fragrant!
• In the tea industry, this ‘black whirlwind’ is equally strong. Luckin Coffee launched the winter solstice limited ‘five black’ latte, Chabaidao upgraded the classic version of soy milk to the black sesame soy milk, and M Stand (a coffee chain) simultaneously launched Black Sesame Milk and black Sesame Cheesecake.

Heaven Chosen Material

The reason why black sesame could become a ‘chosen material’ lies in the perfect superposition of its triple attributes, which together constitute its irreplaceable competitive advantage in the current market environment.

The obsession of ‘anti-hair loss’ engraved in the DNA of Chinese people: In the oriental context, black sesame has a strong association with ‘black hair, kidney tonic’. According to research data, the subconscious driving force of 85% of Generation Z consumers buying black sesame products is anxiety over hair loss. It is this profound cultural psychology that significantly reduces the brand’s market education cost.

And compared with white sesame, the nutritional performance of black sesame is more convincing. Its calcium content is about 7 – 8 times that of milk. At the same time, it is rich in melanin and lignin, which has strong antioxidant properties.

Black sesame also has the characteristics of ‘scent without grabbing space’. It can be perfectly compatible with the bitterness of matcha, the mellowness of chocolate, and the sweetness of sweet potato, and its high oil content can naturally improve the moisture and aroma thickness of baked goods. A study by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences shows that natural polyphenols in sesame seeds can enhance the stability of food flavour, which is very important for processing and storage.

Black sesame is more than black

The next step of black sesame baking will be internationalisation, which has begun to emerge in China and global markets.

The trend towards globalisation is obvious. Black sesame is becoming the ‘new matcha’ in the coffee chain business. In 2025, the overall demand for ‘black sesame’ in the United States increased by nearly 30% year-on-year, the highest in history. In Seoul and Tokyo, black sesame latte has become a resident variety of cafes, while in the United States, there are many coffee shops serving ‘black sesame latte’, which has the momentum to catch up with ‘matcha latte’.

The continuous increase in recognition of domestic baking ingredients among Chinese consumers has also created favourable conditions for local black sesame products. According to the survey, 56.2% of consumers believe that domestic raw materials ‘can replace’ or ‘completely replace’ imported raw materials in most cases.

The global sesame market was expected to reach USD 12.511 billion in 2025 and grow to USD 15.832 billion in 2032. Black sesame is expected to become a new generation of popular flavours in 2026, becoming a regular in desserts, drinks and health topics.

Peter Peverelli is active in and with China since 1975 and regularly travels to the remotest corners of that vast nation. He is a co-author of a major book introducing the cultural drivers behind China’s economic success