Fālūdhaj (Kneaded Almond-Sugar Confection)

History

Fālūdhaj (فالوذج) is a sweet of Persian ancestry whose name derives from Persian pālūda, from a verb meaning "to refine" or "strain"; because Arabic lacks the /p/ sound it was Arabicized as fālūdhaj and recorded in medieval Arabic lexicons. The name covers a family of starch-and-sweetener confections: the classic version thickened honey with starch, while a related frozen branch of chilled, strained starch strands survives today as Iranian fālūdeh. Al-Baghdadi's 1226 rendering sits on the confection side but is almond-forward — pounded sugar and almonds perfumed with camphor, bound with more sugar melted in rosewater, then kneaded firm, shaped and served. The sweet was familiar enough in Abbasid Baghdad that a city district bore the name Darb al-Falūdhaj, "Sweetmeats Alley". Like much of al-Baghdadi's prestige repertoire, it reflects the Persian and Sasanian inheritance absorbed into Abbasid court cooking, and al-Baghdadi — compiling a personal selection of favourite Baghdadi dishes near the caliphate's end — records a confection far older than his own book. Its starch-and-sugar technique is also cited as kin to the later lokum (Turkish delight) family.

Ingredients

• raṭl sugar
• raṭl almonds
• camphor
• raṭl sugar (for syrup)
• ūqiya rose water

Instructions

1. Pound a raṭl of sugar and a third of a raṭl of almonds fine, then perfume with camphor.
2. Dissolve a third of a raṭl of sugar in half an ūqiya of rose water over a gentle fire, then lift it off.
3. When its heat abates, knead in the pounded sugar and almonds, adding more of each if it needs strengthening.
4. Knead vigorously, form into rounds, bars, and other shapes, and arrange in a dish to serve.