There are many things I feel nostalgic for in the Arab world, and one of them are the sweets. Not only sweets like baklawa or muhallabia which are wonderful, especially with Arab coffee, but there are special sweets from Bahrain, Yemen, and Oman which are particularly wonderful and I am craving for now.
They are also very good gifts, and are enjoyed alone or with tea or strong coffee, even the green Arab coffee is nice with them.
I first tried these sweets when I was studying in the UK, sharing a house with wonderful housemates from Yemen and Oman, as we lived together and had Arab food and shared cultures together. One of my housemates went home and when he came back to the UK he brought some sweets for each of us and it was wonderful!
They have at times a jelly like consistency, and are made from various ingredients, corn starch? nuts, saffron, cardamon, and at times with milk. Some have colours like red, yellow, and some translucent like, etc. These kinds of sweets are a form of the types which originally were from Turkish style sweets, as much of Arabia was under the Ottoman Empire, as sweets are a part of those cultures and various regions assimilated the sweets according to local taste and ingredients. A very famous brand from Bahrain is called "Shuwaitor". Each time I am in Bahrain I buy these to bring back.
( photo from internet)
The golden yellow one ( internet photo above) was the style I was first introduced to by my house mates. It has saffron and maybe some cardamon - I love both of those spices in everything!
When I was in Sana'a, Yemen, I brought back a kind of long golden taffy like sweet which was cut from a long metal plate. This cam eo from a local sweet shop which was a few minutes walking distance from Shamiri Plaza Hotel in Sana'a. If anyone visiting Sana'a goes near there, would they kindly bring some sweet like that back for me please?
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