Korean Sesame Oil: How to Tell Real 참기름 from a Blend on the Bottle

Korean cooks finish many dishes with a little 참기름 (chamgireum), sesame oil pressed from roasted seeds. Korean shelves also carry cheaper oils with a sesame flavor, and the small print on the bottle tells you which one you’re holding.

Our example is Ottogi’s sesame oil, sold in the UK and EU as Ottogi Sesame Oil or Pure Sesame Oil. In Korea it’s called 고소한 참기름 (“nutty sesame oil”), and it has been on sale since 1983.[2][3][4][13]

The oil types on a Korean label

Korea’s Food Code sets the food type (식품유형) printed on every bottle:[5]

Reading the ingredients line

Real sesame oil lists only sesame. Ottogi’s Korean bottle says 참깨 100% (100% sesame seeds), with the food type 참기름.[8][19][3] A Korean magazine’s buying tip: if the ingredients line names other oils, such as 식물성유지 (vegetable oil), 카놀라유 (canola oil) or 옥수수유 (corn oil), it’s a blend or a flavored oil.[9] That matches the Food Code rule that nothing else may go into 참기름.[5]

Watch the name on the front, too. On one Korean wholesale site we checked, flavored oils were sold under sesame-sounding names such as 참맛기름 or 참고소한 기름, tagged 참기름대용 (sesame-oil substitute).[10][11]

Ottogi makes two Korean sesame oils, and both are legally 참기름. 고소한 참기름 is pressed from whole seeds; 옛날 참기름 is pressed from roasted sesame powder (볶음참깨분 100%).[3][12][4] The seeds for both are imported: the Korean label says 외국산, grown abroad.[12][3]

Sesame oil or perilla oil?

Korean recipes use both, and the bottles look alike. Perilla oil (들기름) is pressed from perilla seeds, not sesame.[5] It keeps for less time: the perilla oil bottles we checked give 12 months from manufacture.[14][15][12] Their storage advice differs by maker. Some say a cool, dark place; others say to refrigerate after opening.[14][15] Korea’s Rural Development Administration advises refrigerating perilla oil after opening, as reported by Lady Kyunghyang.[16]

Storing sesame oil

• Close the cap tightly and keep the bottle in a cool place out of direct sunlight, at room temperature. That’s what Ottogi’s Korean and export labels say; none of the sesame oil labels we checked asks you to refrigerate it.[8][17][18]
• In the cold, Korean sesame and perilla oils can turn cloudy or show white specks or sediment. The labels say the quality isn’t affected,[8][14] and the oil clears again at room temperature.[16]

Label facts

Shops tag the oil vegan or gluten-free; Ottogi doesn’t make those claims on the pages we read, so we don’t repeat them. We couldn’t find a smoke point from Ottogi or a Korean government source, so we don’t give one.

Korean words on this pack

Tap the speaker to hear each word. More in the label words list.

• 참기름chamgireumsesame oil
• 들기름deulgireumperilla oil (not sesame)
• 향미유hyangmiyuflavored oil: a blend, not pure sesame oil (a food type)
• 참깨chamkkaesesame seeds
• 식품유형sikpum yuhyeongfood type (category)
• 원재료명wonjaeryomyeongingredients
• 외국산oeguksangrown or made abroad
• 직사광선을 피해jiksagwangseoneul pihaeaway from direct sunlight
• 서늘한 곳seoneulhan gota cool place
• 실온 보관siron bogwanstore at room temperature

Ways to serve it

• Add it at the end: a few drops on bibimbap, seasoned vegetables (namul) or kimchi fried rice.
• Mix a little with salt as a dip for grilled meat.
• For the rest of the pantry, see Korean soy sauce types.

These are serving ideas, not part of the pack’s directions.