Mahendragarh Sesame Til Dryland Narnaul

Mahendragarh district (headquarters Narnaul) in the Aravalli belt of southern Haryana grows til sesame as a rainfed kharif crop on the rocky and sandy soils where paddy cannot be grown, harvesting the small oily seeds in August for local consumption and sale to oil-pressing cooperatives. Narnaul's sesame is pressed into gingelly oil used in religious ceremonies and festival foods; the sesame chikki (sesame-jaggery brittle) made in Narnaul and sold at its weekly market is a local specialty. The district's sesame connects to the wider Rajasthan-Haryana sesame trade belt that supplies the confectionery industry and the export market for organic sesame seeds.