Sesame Leaf Noodles 芝麻叶面条
Sesame Leaf Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Henan.
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Sesame Leaf Noodles (芝麻叶面条) are made in Luohe (漯河) with the leaves of the sesame plant. A 2018 market feature in Luohe Daily’s evening edition (漯河日报晚报版) records local shoppers choosing the leaves for hand-rolled noodles or mixed-flour noodles.
Choosing the leaves
At Huashan Market (华山农贸市场), vendor Zhang Yan (张燕) described mid-July as the best picking time. Leaves picked too early are too tender to withstand cooking, while older leaves become tough to chew. The leaves have a distinctive aroma.
Preparing them for noodles
The leaves are blanched to remove bitterness before they go into the dish. Zhang also described drying the blanched leaves in the sun and soaking them again when needed. One shopper planned to roll her own noodles at home for a midday bowl with the fresh leaves.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.