Baklava (, or ; ota, باقلوا ) is a layered pastry dessert made of

filo Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is the ...

pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of

Ottoman cuisine Ottoman cuisine is the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and its continuation in the cuisines of Turkey, the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East and Northern Africa. Today, Turkish cuisine is a continuation of Ottoman cuisine. Sources The Ottoman pa ...

. The pre- Ottoman origin of the dish is unknown, but, in modern times, it is a common dessert of Turkish,

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

and

Arab cuisine Arab cuisine ( ar, المطبخ العربي) is the cuisine of the Arabs, defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab world, from the Maghreb to the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula. These cuisines are centuries old an ...

s, and other countries of the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

and

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

, along with the

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

Etymology

The word ''baklava'' is first attested in English in 1650, a borrowing from ota, باقلاوه . The name baklava is used in many languages with minor phonetic and spelling variations. Historian Paul D. Buell argues that the word "baklava" may come from the Mongolian root ' 'to tie, wrap up, pile up' composed with the Turkic verbal ending ''-v''; baγla- itself in Mongolian is a Turkic loanword.

Sevan Nişanyan Sevan Nişanyan ( hyw, Սեւան Նշանեան; born 21 December 1956) is a Turkish-Armenian writer and linguist. An author of a number of books ("The Wrong Republic", "The Etymological Dictionary" and others), Nişanyan was awarded the Ayşe N ...

considers its oldest known forms (pre-1500) to be ''baklağı'' and ''baklağu'', and labels it as being of Proto-Turkic origin. Another form of the word is also recorded in Persian, ('). Though the suffix ''-vā'' might suggest a Persian origin, the ''baqla-'' part does not appear to be

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and remains of unknown origin. Linguist Tuncer Gülensoy states that the origin of baklava is (feed) in proto-Turkish and suffixes are added. The word changes as > > . The Arabic name ' likely originates from Turkish.

History

Although the history of baklava is not well documented, its current form was probably developed in the imperial kitchens of the

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) i ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(now known in English as

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

). The Sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries every 15th of the month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

in a ceremonial procession called the . The three main proposals for the pre- Ottoman roots of baklava are the Ancient Roman

placenta cake Placenta cake is a dish from ancient Greece and Rome consisting of many dough layers interspersed with a mixture of cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves, baked and then covered in honey.. The dessert is mentioned in classical texts such ...

, Patrick Faas (2003). ''Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 185f./ref> the

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

Turkic tradition of layered desserts,Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava", in ''A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East'' (ed.

Sami Zubaida Sami Zubaida was born in 1937 in Iraq. He left Iraq in 1953 at the age of sixteen.
Sami Zubaida. He is now an ...

Richard Tapper Richard Lionel Tapper is a professor emeritus of the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. He is a social anthropologist who did ethnographic field research in Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. His publications have foc ...

), 1994. , page 87 and the . There are also claims attributing baklava to the Assyrians, according to which baklava was already prepared by them in the 8th century BC. There are also some similarities between baklava and the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

desserts (), (), and () found in book XIV of the . However, the recipe there is for a filling of nuts and honey, with a top and bottom layer of honey and ground

sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

similar to modern or , and no dough, certainly not a flaky dough. Another recipe for a similar dessert is , a dessert found in

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern Eur ...

and considered by some as the origin of baklava. It consists of layers of

dough that are put one by one in warmed up milk with sugar. It is served with walnut and fresh pomegranate and generally eaten during

. The first known documentation of is attested in a food and health manual, written in 1330 that documents

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

foods called Yinshan Zhengyao (, ''Important Principles of Food and Drink''), written by

Hu Sihui Hu Sihui (, 和斯輝, 忽斯慧, also Hu Zheng Qi Huei; active nr. 1314–1330) was a Chinese court therapist and dietitian during Yuan dynasty. He is known for his book ''Yinshan Zhengyao'' (''Dietary Principles''), that became a classic in Chi ...

, an ethnic Mongol court dietitian of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

.Paul D. Buell, "Mongol Empire and Turkicization: The Evidence of Food and Foodways", p. 200''ff'', in Amitai-Preiss, 1999.

The theory

The word originally comes from the Greek language (), which means something "flat and broad". Rena Salaman, "Food in Motion the Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques" from the Oxford Symposium on Food Cookery, Vol. 2, p. 184/ref> Although there are no surviving recipes for Greek , the term is known from the work of comic poet Antiphanes, quoted by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

"The streams of the tawny bee, mixed with the curdled river of bleating she-goats, placed upon a flat receptacle of the virgin daughter of Demeter oney, cheese, flour delighting in ten thousand delicate toppings – or shall I simply say plakous?" "I'm for plakous"' (Antiphanes quoted by Athenaeus 449c).

The earliest known recipe from the 2nd century BC that resembles ''baklava'' is

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

cake, a honey-covered baked layered-dough dessert which Patrick Faas identifies as the origin of baklava:

"The Greeks and the Turks still argue over which dishes were originally Greek and which Turkish. Baklava, for example, is claimed by both countries. Greek and Turkish cuisine both built upon the cookery of the Byzantine Empire, which was a continuation of the cooking of the Roman Empire. Roman cuisine had borrowed a great deal from the ancient Greeks, but (and hence baklava) had a Latin, not a Greek, origin—please note that the conservative, anti-Greek Cato left us this recipe."

Cato's original recipe for follows: Dalby speculates as to why Cato's section on bread and cakes, which he describes as "recipes in a Greek tradition", are included in :

We cannot be so sure why there is a section of recipes for bread and cakes (74-87), recipes in a Greek tradition and perhaps drawing on a Greek cookbook. Possibly Cato included them so that the owner and guests might be entertained when visiting the farm; possibly so that proper offerings might be made to the gods; more likely, I believe, so that profitable sales might be made at a neighbouring market.

According to a number of scholars () was a precursor of modern baklava. Historian

Speros Vryonis Speros Vryonis Jr. ( el, Σπυρίδων "Σπύρος" Βρυώνης, July 18, 1928 – March 12, 2019) was an American historian of Greek descent and a specialist in Byzantine, Balkan, and Greek history. He was the author of a number of wor ...

describes ''koptoplakous'' as a "Byzantine favorite" and "the same as the Turkish baklava",Speros Vryonis ''The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor'', 1971, p. 482 as do other writers. The name ( el, πλατσέντα) is used today on the island of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

for thin layered pastry leaves with crushed nuts, baked, and covered in syrup.

Persian

''Baklava'' is a common dessert in modern Arab cuisines, but the Arabic language cookbook , compiled by

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq ( ar, أبو محمد المظفر بن نصر ابن سيار الوراق) was an Arab author from Baghdad. He was the compiler of a tenth-century cookbook, the ( ar, links=no, كتاب الطبيخ, ''The Book of Dishes''). This is the earlie ...

in the 10th-century, does not contain any recipe for ''baklava''. Its recipe for

lauzinaj ''Lauzinaj,'' also spelled ''lawzinaj'', ''lawzinaq'', ''luzina'' (Latin: ''losenges'', ''lesynges'') is an almond-based confection known from medieval Arab cuisine. Described as the "food of kings" and "supreme judge of all sweets", by the 13th-ce ...

refers to small pieces of

almond paste Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities, with small amounts of cooking oil, beaten eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder. It is similar to ''marzipan'', but has a coarser texture. Almond pas ...

wrapped in very thin pastry ("as thin as grasshoppers' wings") and drenched in syrup.Perry, Charles. "What to Order in Ninth Century Baghdad," in Rodinson, Maxime, and Arthur John Arberry. "Medieval Arab Cookery." (2001). p. 223 Some writers say this is dessert that most closely resembles the modern ''baklava''. Charles Perry, however, has written that "it was not much like baklava".Perry, Charles. "What to Order in Ninth Century Baghdad," in Rodinson, Maxime, and Arthur John Arberry. "Medieval Arab Cookery." (2001). p. 222 "As for lauzinaj, it was not much like baklava." There are similar recipes for in the 13th-century by

Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan bin Muḥammad bin al-Karīm al-Baghdadi, usually called al-Baghdadi (d. 1239 AD), was the compiler of an early Arabic cookbook of the Abbasid period, كتاب الطبيخ ''Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ'' (''The Book of Dishes'') ...

. Written in 1226 in today's

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, the cookbook was based on an earlier collection of 9th century

-inspired recipes. According to

Gil Marks Gilbert Stanley Marks (May 30, 1952 – December 5, 2014) was an American food writer and historian noted for his reference and cookbooks on the subject of Jewish food. He was the founding editor of ''Kosher Gourmet'' magazine. He moved to Israel ...

, Middle Eastern pastry makers later developed the process of layering the ingredients.

Central Asian layered desserts

Uzbek cuisine Uzbek cuisine shares the culinary traditions of peoples across Central Asia. There is a great deal of grain farming in Uzbekistan, so breads and noodles are of importance, and Uzbek cuisine has been characterized as "noodle-rich". Mutton is a pop ...

has , or or in

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, which are sweet and salty savories () prepared with 10–12 layers of dough.Akın and Lambraki, ''Turkish and Greek Cuisine / '' p. 248-249,

Preparation

Baklava is normally prepared in large pans. Many layers of

dough, separated with melted butter and vegetable oil, are laid in the pan. A layer of chopped nuts—typically

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

s or pistachios, but hazelnuts are also sometimes used—is placed on top, then more layers of filo. Most recipes have multiple layers of filo and nuts, though some have only top and bottom pastry. Before baking (, 30 minutes), the dough is cut into regular pieces, often parallelograms (lozenge-shaped), triangles, diamonds or rectangles. After baking, a

syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...

, which may include

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, rosewater, or

orange flower water Orange flower Orange flower water, or orange blossom water, is a clear aromatic by-product of the distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms for their essential oil. Uses This essential water has traditionally been used as an aromatizer i ...

is poured over the cooked baklava and allowed to soak in. Baklava is usually served at room temperature, and is often garnished with ground nuts. Baklava - Turkish special, 80-ply

Regional variations

There are many regional variations of ''baklava''. In Greece, walnuts are more common than pistachios, and the dessert is often flavored with cinnamon. In Iran, fragrant cardamom is added to a sweetened walnut filling. In

Azerbaijani cuisine Azerbaijani cuisine ( az, Azərbaycan mətbəxi) refers to the cooking styles and dishes of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The cuisine developed significantly due to its diversity of agriculture, from abundant grasslands which historically allowed f ...

', made with

walnuts A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bot ...

almonds The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of th ...

, is usually cut in a

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (plural rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The ...

shape and is traditionally served during the spring holiday of . In

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

, locally grown pistachios are used, and the dessert is often served with ''

kaymak Kaymak, sarshir, or qashta/ashta ( fa, سَرشیر ) ( ar, قشطة or ar, قيمر ) is a creamy dairy food similar to clotted cream, made from the milk of water buffalo, cows, sheep, or goats in Central Asia, some Balkan countries, som ...

'' cream. Algeria Baklava in Algeria is called ''Baklawa'' (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: بقلاوة). In most Algerian regions, Baklawa is the centerpiece of any sweets table. This Baklawa originates in the Algerian city of

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

. The Algerian Baklawa is distinct in that filo dough is not used, Instead, it is made up of multiple layers of very thin dough that has been meticulously handcrafted. It's stuffed with ground almonds and walnuts and flavored with orange blossom water before being cooked and drizzled in pure honey.

Armenia

Armenian cuisine Armenian cuisine includes the foods and cooking techniques of the Armenian people and traditional Armenian foods and dishes. The cuisine reflects the history and geography where Armenians have lived as well as sharing outside influences from ...

, ''pakhlava'' ( hy, Փախլավա) is spiced with

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

and cloves. Greek-style baklava is supposed to be made with 33 dough layers, referring to the years of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

's life.Theodore Kyriakou and Charles Campion, ''The Real Greek at Home'', London 2004

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani pakhlava ( az, Azərbaycan paxlavası), or simply Pakhlava ( az, Paxlava), are a type of baklavas made in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

for

Nowruz Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...

holiday, although not baked only for holidays. Yeasty pastry, hazelnuts or

Circassian walnut ''Juglans regia'', the Persian walnut, English walnut, Carpathian walnut, Madeira walnut, or especially in Great Britain, common walnut, is an Old World walnut tree species native to the region stretching from the Balkans eastward to the Himalay ...

, milled

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are r ...

, and

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

are used for the preparation of pakhlava. Milled nuts and sugar are used for stuffing. The diamond shape of pakhlava is commonly associated with a star or fire in

. Azerbaijani pakhlava is multilayered and commonly prepared with walnuts or almonds and flavored with saffron. It is generally made in a big baking tray. Pakhlava has some variations in different regions of Azerbaijan based on the ingredients and baking techniques. A layer is rolled out from the pastry with thickness of not less than 2 mm, put into baking tray, oiled and lavishly filled with stuffing. This process is continued, until 9–10 layers are made. Another version uses 14 layers. The last layer is greased with yolk, mixed up with saffron. Then pakhlava is cut into two rhombus, then either hazelnut or half of the kernel of Circassian walnut is placed on each piece. Then it is baked with 180–200 °C temperature pending 30–40 minutes. *Baku pakhlava. Baku pakhlava can be made of peeled

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

s or

s. It consists of 8–10 layers. Its top layer is coated with

mixed with

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example ...

. A half

or pistachio is placed on the center of the top layer of each diamond-shaped piece. Syrup or honey is poured on the surface of pakhlava 15 minutes before it is ready. *Ganja pakhlava. Ganja pakhlava is characterized by its stuffing prepared of almond, sugar and cinnamon, baking on a copper tray over a campfire and consisting of 18 layers of pastry. 8 layers of almond stuffing are spread on every 3 buttered layers of pastry. The surface is coated with egg. Syrup is added to Ganja pakhlava 15–20 minutes before it is ready. Infusion of rose petals (gulab) can also be added to the dough, and

is added to the stuffing. *Rishta pakhlava. This kind of pakhlava differs from the other types with its top layer which is covered with rishta. Rishta is made from wheat starch or rice flour. Grid-shaped rishta made by pouring knead liquid dough on hot griddle through a special funnel with 11 holes and baking it in a minute. *Guba pakhlava. This type of pakhlava is characterized especially by its colour. The covering layer of Guba pakhlava is coated with a mixture of saffron and a red colour additive. Guba pakhlava consists of approximately 50 rishta layers. *Sheki pakhlava. It is also called Sheki halva. It is made from rishta, stuffing ( hazelnut,

and coriander seeds) and syrup.

Balkans

Bosnian cuisine Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine ( bs, Bosanska kuhinja) is balanced between Western and Eastern influences. The food is closely related to former Yugoslav, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Austo-Hungarian and other Balkan cuisines. Ingredients Bo ...

, ''Ružice'' is the name of the regional variant of baklava. Baklava also exists in

Romanian cuisine Romanian cuisine () is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It has been mainly influenced by Turkish and a series of European cuisines in partic ...

, being known as in Romanian. It is one of the most preferred desserts among Romanians together with the ''

Kanafeh Knafeh ( ar, كنافة) is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made with spun pastry called ''kataifi'', soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar, and typically layered with cheese, or with other ingredients such as clotted cream, pis ...

'' () and the . In

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, some Turkish pastry shops that sell baklava have notable popularity. They are common in the south and southeast of the country, but some also exist in its east.

Greece

In Greece, baklava is supposed to be made with 33 dough layers, referring to the years of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

's life.

Iranian

In Iranian cuisine, a drier version of baklava is cooked and presented in smaller diamond-shaped cuts flavored with

rose water Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of rose ...

. The cities of

Yazd Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...

and

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

are famous for their baklava, which is widely distributed in Iran. Persian baklava uses a combination of chopped almonds and pistachios spiced with cardamom and a rose water-scented syrup and is lighter than other Middle Eastern versions.Batmanglij, Najmieh, ''A Taste of Persia: An Introduction to Persian Cooking'', I.B.Tauris, 2007, , 9781845114374; page 156.

Turkey

, baklava is traditionally made by filling between the layers of dough with pistachios, walnuts or almonds (in some parts of the Aegean Region). In many parts of Turkey, baklava is often topped with or

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

. In the Black Sea Region hazelnuts are commonly used as a filling for baklava. Hazelnuts are also used as a filling for the Turkish dessert '' Sütlü Nuriye'', a lighter version of the dessert which substitutes

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

for the

simple syrup Inverted sugar syrup, also called invert syrup, invert sugar, simple syrup, sugar syrup, sugar water, bar syrup, syrup United States Pharmacopeia, USP, or sucrose inversion, is a syrup mixture of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, that ...

used in traditional baklava recipes. '' Şöbiyet'' is a variation that includes fresh

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

in the filling, in addition to the traditional nuts. The city of

in southeast Turkey is famous for its pistachio baklava. The dessert was introduced to Gaziantep in 1871 by Çelebi Güllü, who had learned the recipe from a chef in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. In 2008, the Turkish patent office registered a

geographical indication A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...

for Antep Baklava, and in 2013, or was registered as a

Protected Geographical Indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. Gaziantep baklava is the first Turkish product to receive a protected designation from the European Commission.

Other

Crimean Tatar cuisine The Crimean Tatar cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Crimean Tatars, who live on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The traditional cuisine of the Crimean Tatars has similarities with that of Greeks, Italians, Balkans, Balkan peoples, Nogais, N ...

, the ' is their variant of baklava. There are many variants in

Maghrebi cuisine Maghreb cuisine is the cooking of the Maghreb region, the northwesternmost part of Africa along the Mediterranean Sea, consisting of the countries of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. Well-known dishes from the region include ''c ...

as well (from east Algeria).

Gallery

File:Gəncə paxlavası.JPG, Ganja pakhlava File:Quba paxlavası.jpg, Guba pakhlava File:Kadayıf Taksim (2).JPG, Several types of Baklava File:Armenian baklava, Togh, Artsakh - Հայկական փախլավա, Տող, Արցախ.jpg, Armenian Pakhlava File:Azərbaycan paxlavası.jpg, Azerbaijani Baklava File:Baklawa algérienne.jpg, Algerian baklava File:Baklava ST 06.JPG, A tray of baklava in the Old City, Jerusalem File:PatisseriesTunisiennes2005.jpg, A tray of Tunisian pastries including baklava

Notes

General references

* * * *

Reuven Amitai-Preiss Reuven Amitai ( he, ראובן עמיתי; born August 23, 1955), also Reuven Amitai-Preiss, is an Israeli-American historian and writer, specializing in pre-modern Islamic civilization, especially Syria and Palestine during the time of the Maml ...

and David O. Morgan, eds., ''The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy'' Brill, 1999. . * Buell, Paul D. "Mongol Empire and Turkicization: The Evidence of Food and Foodways", p. 200''ff'', in Amitai-Preiss, 1999. * Christian, David. Review of Amitai-Preiss, 1999, in ''

Journal of World History The ''Journal of World History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that presents historical analysis from a global point of view, focusing especially on forces that cross the boundaries of cultures and civilizations, including large-scale populat ...

'' 12:2:476 (2001). * Perry, Charles. "The Taste for Layered Bread among the Nomadic Turks and the Central Asian Origins of Baklava", in ''A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East'' (ed.