SC - RE: SC-Hulwa

[Phil & Susan Troy]

david friedman wrote:
> 
> "Hulwa" means, roughly, "sweets." Hence Halvah and the Indian Hulawat,
> which are entirely different, are etymologically the same.

How could they be entirely different if they are etymologically the same?
Might it be that "hulwa" translates as the equivalent of "dessert"? I'm
grasping at straws here, and don't really expect a serious reply to this
point, but I think you'll understand what I mean. I mean, they must have
something in common. (A brief glance at a modern Indian cookbook shows a
couple of milk-based halwa recipes, one of which involves cooking milk and
sugar down to a sort of fudge, which is used to bind together grated carrots
and nuts. Possibly the use of a syrupy goo to bind other items together into a
slicable mass is the culinary hook on which to hang the etymological
similarity.)  
 
> The particular recipe I was thinking of, which is in the MIscellany, is a
> period Islamic candy along the lines of divinity. The ingredients are
> sugar, egg white, water, and whatever you are binding together (chopped
> nuts, for example). There are also versions using honey and dibs (date
> syrup).

>From the fifteenth-century "Kitab al-Tibakhah", Charles Perry, trans. :

"Hulwa. Its varieties are very many. Among them are sweets (halawat) made of
natif. You put dibs [fruit syrup], honey, sugar or rubb [thick fruit syrup] in
the pot, then you put it on a gentle fire and stir until it takes consistency.
Then you beat eggwhites and put it with it and stir until it thickens and
becomes natif. After that, if you want almond candy (halawah lauziyyah) you
put in toasted almonds and allaftahu: that is, you bind them. Jauziyyah,
walnuts; fustuqiyyah, pistacchios; bunduqiyyah, hazelnuts; qudamiyyah, toasted
chickpeas; simsimiyyah, sesame; tahinayyah, flour [tahin] . You beat in the
natif until it thickens. For duhniyyah you put in flour toasted with fat. As
for halawah ajamiyyah, toast flour with sesame oil until it becomes slack, and
boil dibs or another sweet ingredient and put it with it. As for khabis, take
dibs and put it on the fire until its scum rises, and skim it. Dissolve
cornstarch in water and put it with it."

I assume we needn't go into whether maize or wheat starch is meant here ;  ).
As for the flour/tahin / tahiniyyah reference, I think ground (and possibly
defatted) sesame might be what is meant, based on the name of the candy. I
imagine the use of the beaten egg white would give the sweet a chewy or
rubbery texture, ranging from a taffy consistency to something like a
marshmallow, so that would probably be the most obvious difference between
tahinayyah and the modern sesame "halvah" we buy commercially.   

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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