Sesame Presses
Sesame oil extraction has been known for thousands of years, and it is considered one of the oldest and best vegetable oils for food, lighting, and therapeutic uses. The extraction of sesame oil (sorghum) and the manufacture of tahini and halva, are among the most important traditional industries in the old town of Hebron.
The "Iqnaibi Press" is a model of five presses in the city during the Ottoman period. This press was established in place of an olive press, and some of its elements are still visible. The press consisted of basins of different shapes and depths, a water well, and a basalt mill for grinding sesame seeds. Traditionally, extracting the serge takes several hours and goes through several stages, including cleaning, peeling, roasting, grinding, kneading, and squeezing. These stages begin with soaking the sesame seeds for a certain period to clean them of dust and impurities, and soften their husks. Then, they are soaked with water and salt in a circular basin to separate the husks from it. Hence, the seeds float on the surface, transferred to another square-shaped basin, and soaked in fresh water to get rid of salts and impurities, after which they are dried and roasted in a special oven and ground by a mill. The ground sesame is kneaded in the conical-shaped tubs of kneaders. Then the process of extracting the sesame oil and the manufacture of tahini begin. The rest of the sesame is called a "kisbah" which is the sesame scales, and it is in the form of a very dense and brown soft material, and a diet is considered very rich. It was used to feed the cows to increase the amount of milk production, as it is accepted by breastfeeding women for the same purpose. Usually, people eat it with Halva since It tastes good.