With a newly opened jar in my fridge, I’ve been on a tahini kick of late.

So, when a review copy of the new cookbook, “Sesame: Global Recipes & Stories of An Ancient Seed” (Ten Speed Press), landed in my mailbox, the timing was perfect.

The book was written by Rachel Simons, the founder of Seed+Mill, the first store in the United States that’s devoted to sesame products. Its tahini (ground sesame paste) and halva (fudge-like candy made from sesame paste) are used by top chefs and carried in more than 1,700 stores, including Whole Foods and Sprouts.

Sesame seeds have been cultivated for as long as 5,500 years on the Indian subcontinent to make seed oil, Simons writes. With their naturally sweet nutty taste, they’ve also been strewn over bread in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in Turkey, Jerusalem, Canada and China.

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