2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Who doesn't love baklava? In Turkey, this sweet temptation has many names, one for each species - a nightingale's nest, the vizier's finger, the lips of a beauty - these are just some of them. It is very difficult to determine the country of origin of baklava, which is why most peoples in the Middle East claim the rights to it.
The history of dessert takes us back to the VIII century BC, when in Mesopotamia they made a dessert from roasted crusts with honey and crushed nuts, which they baked in the oven. In antiquity, Greek merchants transported it through the Eastern Mediterranean, from where it later entered Roman cuisine.
During its journey through different ethnic groups and centuries, baklava enriches and refines its divine taste. The Armenians were the first to add cinnamon and cloves, and the Arabs flavored it with rose water and cardamom. During its great power, Turkey ruled a vast territory that today coincides with the area of baklava - Asia Minor, Armenia, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, the Balkans, Iraq and North Africa.
No wonder that it is in these places that syrup cakes become popular - first honey and then sugar syrup act as strong preservatives for desserts, which otherwise would not last a day in the hot climate of most of the above countries..
Another reason for the great popularity of baklava in the Islamic world is the belief that honey and nuts are an aphrodisiac.
As it has already become clear, baklava has many names. For them, popular history says that the confectioners in the palace kitchen of the Turkish sultan had to serve a new dessert to the padisha every day, so they crafted dozens of different shapes and ways to fold the baklava, and the spices and nuts were also different.
Each variant was presented with a different name. Although some historians claim that baklava was not a Turkish invention, it was in the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries that it gained its true grandeur in the sumptuous kitchens of sultans, viziers and pashas.
Among the most famous Turkish baklava is the one prepared in the Turkish city of Antep. This region also produces the most valuable variety of pistachio, whose nuts are small, but with a very rich aroma and high fat content. Some baklava craftsmen use refined ghee oil to make their baklava.
From antiquity until the beginning of the twentieth century, baklava remained a luxury dessert. To this day, people in Turkey say, "I'm not rich enough to eat baklava and burek every day."
Today, its status has completely changed because it is accessible to many people. Both in Turkey and in the Arab countries, the city streets are crowded with small pastry shops or shops with larger windows, which abound in baklava in various forms.
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