Panna Cotta, Dressed in Black.

Some recipes arrive fully formed — a convergence of tradition, intuition, and the right ingredients at the right moment. This Black Sesame Panna Cotta is one of those recipes. Developed by Berkeley Bowl using our Three Trees Black Sesame Milk, it draws on Japanese dessert traditions to create something that feels genuinely new.

Think of it as the meeting point between a silken panna cotta and a delicate jelly. The Three Trees Black Sesame Milk brings the body and flavor — that deep, earthy richness that only comes from slowly stone-ground black sesame seeds. The kinako (roasted soybean flour) adds a toasted warmth on the surface. And the kuromitsu, spiked with white miso, delivers a salty-sweet sauce that makes the whole thing sing.

Why Black Sesame Milk?

Three Trees Black Sesame Milk is made from a few simple ingredients — nut and seed milk (filtered water, organic almonds organic black sesame), organic dates for natural sweetness, and a pinch of French grey salt. No gums, no oils, nothing artificial. The result is a milk that carries genuine sesame character — bold, slightly bitter, hauntingly dark — in a way that transforms any recipe it enters.

For this panna cotta, that concentrated flavor is everything. Where a neutral plant milk would fade into the gelatin, the black sesame milk holds its ground, producing a dessert with real nutty and earthy presence.

Ingredients

For the pudding:

• 1 bottle Three Trees Black Sesame Milk

• 12 grams/ 4 teaspoons of powdered gelatin

• ¼ cup cane sugar

Toppings and sauce

• Kinako (roasted soybean powder) to taste for each serving

• Kuromitsu – available at stores or make at home using dark brown/black sugar and water to a 1:2 (water:sugar) ratio

• White miso paste – to taste depending on how much kuromitsu you use I used about 1tst to one finished cup of Kuromitsu

How to Make It

Make the pudding:

1. Add gelatine powder to two tablespoons of water and allow it to bloom

2. Shake the black sesame milk thoroughly

3. In a heavy bottom pan over medium/low heat, add black sesame milk and ¼ of sugar (more or less to taste).

4. Stir to dissolve sugar.

5. Add bloomed gelatin and stir until completely incorporated.

   Distribute mixture evenly into dessert cups

6. Refrigerate until set

Make the toppings and sauce

1. Kinako – lightly pan toast the kinako powder in a dry pan – set aside to cool

   • If you’re making your own Kuromitsu, combine sugar and water in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat to allow the sugar to melt and the syrup to form, then remove from heat and add miso, stir to combine.

   • If you’ve purchased Kuromitsu, pour the syrup into a small bowl, in a separate small dish, dissolve the miso with just enough water to dissolve the paste and combine

   2. To serve – top the pudding with kinako, and pour a generous dollop of Kuromitsu on top!

---

“Creamy, light, nutty — robust sesame flavor, a touch of sweetness, and a bit of umami...”