Booza
Booza being sold in the landmark Bakdash ice cream shop in the Al-Hamidiyah Souq in the Old City of Damascus (2009)
TypeIce cream
Place of originSyria
Region or stateDamascus
Main ingredientsMilk, sahlab, mastic, sugar
A dish of booza topped with pistachios served at the Bakdash ice cream shop in Damascus

Booza (Arabic: بُوظَة, romanized: Būẓah, lit. 'ice cream') is an Eastern Levant frozen dairy dessert made with milk, cream, sugar, mastic and sahlab (orchid flour), giving it its distinguished stretchy and chewy texture—much like dondurma.

Booza is traditionally made through a process of pounding[1] and stretching in a freezer drum, instead of the more usual churning method used in other ice creams, leading to a creamy yet dense texture.[2][3][4]

History

Booza origins dates back to at least 1500 AD in Greater Syria and is sometimes referred to as the "first ice cream in the world".[5]

Ancient Damascus

In Al-Hamidiyah Souq in the Old City of Damascus, there is an ice cream store named Bakdash that is known throughout the Arab world for its stretchy and chewy ice cream. It is a popular attraction for tourists as well.[6]

International usage

A brother and sister team (Jilbert El-Zmetr and Tedy Altree-Williams) pioneered and created the first packaged version of booza in Australia in 2011. Using local ingredients together with sahlab and mastic (from the island of Chios, Greece), they recreated the traditional form of booza and packaged this in a take-home format available to consumers.[7]

In 2018, a booza scoop-shop named Republic of Booza opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, US, by Tamer Rabbani and Michael Sadler.[1][8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Fabricant, Florence (2018-06-11). "Move Over Soft Serve, There's a New Ice Cream in Town". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  2. ↑ This ice cream stretches like gum - CNN Video, 30 August 2018, archived from the original on 2021-02-05, retrieved 2019-05-07
  3. ↑ "WHAT IS BOOZA?". REPUBLIC OF BOOZA. Archived from the original on 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  4. ↑ "Traditional Booza Ice Cream Debuts in Brooklyn". Michelin. 27 June 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Domzalski, Tessa. "Republic of Booza is Serving the Oldest (and Stretchiest!) Ice Cream in NYC". Spoon University. Archived from the original on 2022-11-08. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  6. ↑ Amos, Deborah (2013-05-04). "As Syria Melts Down, Ice Cream Shop Sets Up In Jordan". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2019-06-24. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "Bring on the booza". 24 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "Traditional Booza Ice Cream Debuts in Brooklyn". MICHELIN Guide. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
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