Jullab with Rosewater (Syrup Chilled with Snow)
A light sugar syrup perfumed with rosewater, diluted with cold water and chilled with ice. Floral, refreshing, it is the quintessence of courtly sweetness.
A light sugar syrup perfumed with rosewater, diluted with cold water and chilled with ice. Floral, refreshing, it is the quintessence of courtly sweetness.
When the Baghdad sun weighs on the neck, they bring me snow carried on muleback from the northern mountains — think of the price of such coolness. I melt a light syrup in it and three sips of rosewater, no more: the perfume should caress, not overwhelm. Drink slowly, O my guest, and let this sweetness remind you that God placed in the rose a delight no scholar could manufacture.
- •Sugar (qand) or honey — to taste (sweetness)
- •Rosewater — a few drops (fragrance)
- •Pure water — as needed (base)
- •Mountain snow — a handful (coolness)
Jullab with Rosewater (Syrup Chilled with Snow)
A light sugar syrup perfumed with rosewater, diluted with cold water and chilled with ice. Floral, refreshing, it is the quintessence of courtly sweetness.
Why this dish? Caliphs had snow brought down from the mountains to chill their drinks in Baghdad's heat: a luxury the Abbasid court indulged in freely. Jullab, sugar water perfumed with rose, is the emblem of this refinement that al-Ma'mun's biography associates with his table — syrups and sorbets with rosewater.
When the Baghdad sun weighs on the neck, they bring me snow carried on muleback from the northern mountains — think of the price of such coolness. I melt a light syrup in it and three sips of rosewater, no more: the perfume should caress, not overwhelm. Drink slowly, O my guest, and let this sweetness remind you that God placed in the rose a delight no scholar could manufacture.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sugar (qand) or honey — to taste (sweetness)
- Rosewater — a few drops (fragrance)
- Pure water — as needed (base)
- Mountain snow — a handful (coolness)
Ingredients
- Sugar — 150 g (syrup)
- Water — 200 ml for syrup + cold water for serving (base)
- Food-grade rosewater — 1 to 2 tbsp (fragrance)
- Ice cubes or crushed ice — as needed (coolness)
- Edible rose petals (decoration) — a few (garnish)
Method
- Dissolve the sugar in 200 ml water over low heat until a clear syrup forms; let cool completely.
- Off the heat, stir in the rosewater (heat would drive off the fragrance).
- To serve, pour a splash of syrup into a glass, top up with very cold water to taste.
- Add crushed ice and a few rose petals.
- Taste and adjust: the jullab should remain light, never syrupy.
How it was made : The trade in snow and ice, stored in icehouses, supplied courts across the medieval Islamic world. Perfumed syrups (sharab, from which our word 'syrup' derives) came in rose, violet, and tamarind. They were diluted at drinking time, often with added musk or ambergris at the caliphal table — a touch we will omit today.
The contemporary twist : Pour the jullab over crushed ice like a granita and serve with a straw in a small tea glass: a 'rose lemonade' a thousand years old.
Sources : Lilia Zaouali, L'Islam à table — Du Moyen Âge à nos jours (2004) · Nawal Nasrallah, Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens (2007)
Al-Ma'mun · Charactorium
