Table of contents:
2025 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-13 07:40
Baklava: how to eat Turkish sweetness correctly
Baklava is one of the most popular oriental sweets. Many have tried different types of it more than once, but not everyone knows how to eat this delicacy correctly.
Baklava is a popular oriental delicacy
Baklava, often also called baklava, is an oriental puff pastry delicacy with a nut filling. The layers of dough are rolled out very thinly: according to various sources, there should be from 20 to 50 of them. At home, dessert is often made from ready-made filo dough - unleavened extruded thin dough, which does not contain animal fats and eggs, but is made with the addition of olive oil.
To make baklava quickly at home, use the filo dough, which you can buy in some supermarkets.
For the filling they usually use chopped walnuts in sugar-honey syrup with spices - saffron, cinnamon, etc. There are recipes for baklava with pistachios and other nuts. Lay the dough layers in a large baking dish, coat with soft butter, then spread the filling and bake. The finished hot dish is poured with syrup cooled to room temperature and left for six or more hours to soak. Some recipes involve pouring syrup over chilled baklava or placing the dish in the refrigerator for soaking.
Baklava is made with a nut filling and poured with honey-sugar syrup
Where does baklava come from?
It is believed that as far back as the 8th century BC, the Assyrians made a sweetness similar to modern baklava. Greek sailors and merchants, who often visited Mesopotamia, told their compatriots about the recipe for an amazing delicacy, who replaced the coarse Turkish dough with the thinnest layers of draw. But the first written mention of it, according to the historian N. Janli, was found in the cookbook of the Topkany Palace during the times of the Turkish Sultan Fatih. The entry is dated 1453.
Every oriental people who got a baklava recipe supplemented it with something of their own, for example, the Arabs began to add cardamom to syrup
How to eat baklava properly
Since baklava is poured over with syrup that accumulates at the bottom, it is recommended to eat it upside down. Traditionally, baklava is washed down with water. But also now tea or coffee is served with it. Sugar is usually not added to drinks.
In one of the Evpatoria cafes, where guests are treated to Turkish sweets, I was offered herbal unsweetened tea with baklava. As the owner of this establishment said, it is with such a drink or just water that sweets are most often washed down in Turkey.
Baklava is washed down with water, unsweetened tea, and sometimes coffee
The most delicious oriental delicacy - baklava - is not accepted to be washed down with sweet drinks. It is best to use water for this. A dessert is recommended, turning it upside down.