Thanks, Shawn,
Well, to be more precise, I was thinking of two possibilities: 1) The seeds might be white seeds dyed with iron gluconate or similar. The colour of the broth might reveal it. Does blueish green match with your experience? 2) The seeds might be radiated. In that case tehy would be dead. I guess I could test that by leaving them on moist paper for a couple of days. If they are alive they start sprouting leaves;-)
I gather from your answer that there were other possibilieties also, maybe due to poor conditions during storage etc.
In my country there aren't that many shops that I could find black sesame seeds from. In fact I know only this one. ;-) I hope one is enough.
[He].2s2.2p4
