Sonipat Sesame Til Cultivation Processing

Sonipat district grows sesame (til) as a kharif summer oilseed crop on lighter sandy soils where paddy is less productive, harvesting the black-seeded and white-seeded varieties in August for processing into til oil and for use in festival sweets like tilgul (sesame-jaggery balls) distributed at Makar Sankranti. Village women press sesame on wooden kolu presses to extract cold-pressed oil with a rich nutty aroma used in chutney and traditional medicine, while commercial expellers produce refined sesame oil for export through Haryana's oilseed processing industry. Sonipat sesame is sold at the district mandi and to wholesale buyers supplying Gujarat's confectionery industry.