Halva

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Halva is spelled at least four ways in English: halva, halvah, halwa and halua. The spelling is the easy part. Behind it sits a confection spread across North Africa, East Africa, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. Recipes generally build a thick paste from flour, butter, oil, milk or sugar, often with saffron, rosewater or turmeric. Yet a Burmese rice-flour sweet, an Argentine peanut bar and a Ukrainian sunflower-seed sweet all answer to the same name. Where did this family of sweets begin, and how did one word come to cover so much ground? Which ingredients hold it together, which towns claim a version of their own, and why does it turn up at weddings and funerals alike?

  513220

• 2. Oil Food to Sweet

  ›

  In Middle Persian, before the rise of Islam, the category of confections that would grow into halva carried the name rōɣæn xordīg. It means oil food. The later name comes from Arabic, where the word حلاوة means a sweet confection. It grows from a three-letter root, ح ل و, that simply means sweet. Romanian handed the word on to English, where it appeared between 1840 and 1850.

  Persia, in what is now Iran, is where halva began. By the 9th century, the term covered many kinds of sweets. Among them was the cooked paste of sweetened semolina or flour that still looks familiar today. The first proper recipes were written down in the 13th century. They appear in the Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, which means The Book of Dishes, and in an anonymous cookbook from Al-Andalus of the same century.

  Older echoes exist. The writer Athenaeus mentions an ancient Greek dish called sesamidios, a round cake made of honey, roasted sesame seeds and oil. It is considered the same thing as the sesame version of halva. The Byzantine Empire also ate halva, and the evidence there is solid. The Ottoman Turks later adopted it, sesame version included, and spread it through their empire.

  By the 19th century the sesame kind was being recorded and manufactured. An 1844 dictionary by a Swedish Orientalist describes sesame halwa, written حلاوة طحينية. According to Al Adib magazine, a factory making tahini halwa stood in Beirut as early as 1874.

  15161714

• 3. Flour and Semolina

  ›

  Toasting comes first in nearly every grain-based halva. Cooks brown flour or cornstarch in oil to make a roux, then cook it with a sugary syrup. Corn is rarely used.

  Wheat semolina gives suji ka halwa in India and Pakistan, Shujir Halua in Bangladesh and irmik helvası in Turkey. In the Indian and Turkish versions, the semolina is toasted in oil or butter. Water or milk and sugar then go in until the mixture reaches the desired consistency. The finished texture swings widely. It can be buttery, moist and clumpy like couscous, or it can turn gelatinous and translucent.

  Sohan halwa of northern India and Pakistan is a renowned delicacy built on wheat flour. The flour is combined with milk, sugar, clarified butter, cardamom, saffron and nuts such as almonds and pistachios. The mixture cooks slowly, and the sugar caramelizes along the way. That caramelizing gives sohan halwa its firm and brittle texture.

  In Myanmar, the word halawa usually means Pathein halawa, a dairy-based sweet that is considered a delicacy native to the city of Pathein. It is made with glutinous rice flour, rice flour, milk and coconut shavings, and it comes from the town in the Irrawaddy delta. Burmese cooks also have a semolina sweet called sanwin makin, which is known as sooji halawa in India.

  In Aleppo, Syria, a semolina halwa called Ma'mounia is named after the Caliph Al-Ma'mun. Cooks fry semolina in butter and drench it in syrup, producing something like a semolina pudding. Modern versions add hard white cheese. The Syrian historian Khayr al-Din al-Asadi recorded 22 varieties of halwa made in Aleppo alone, in a reference work he published in 1971.

  1921605938

• 4. Seeds and Nuts

  ›

  Around the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, in Poland and across the Middle East, halva usually means sesame. The base is tahini, the paste of ground sesame, mixed with sugar, glucose or honey. Some recipes add soapwort, called 'erq al halaweh in Arabic and çöven in Turkish. Others add egg white. Either one steadies the oils in the mixture or gives the sweet a distinctive texture. Pistachios, cocoa powder, orange juice, vanilla and chocolate are common extras. Compared with the semolina kinds, sesame halva is drier and more crumbly.

  In Israel, tahini halvah is very popular, as it is among Jews in the diaspora. It is made from sesame tahini and sugar and is generally sold in slabs, with or without nuts. Vanilla, or vanilla with chocolate swirls, is perhaps the most common flavor. Halvah is parve, and Israeli hotels often serve it as part of breakfast. It also goes into a specialty ice cream made with halva, tahini, eggs, cream and sugar, usually topped with pistachios and silan, a date syrup.

  Iranians call tahini-based halva halva ardeh. Ardeh is processed sesame in paste form, usually sweetened with syrup, and the halva may or may not contain whole pistachios. In the West Bank, tahini halwa is traditionally flavored with qizha, a paste of nigella sativa. The same region makes an angel-hair variety that resembles candy floss.

  Swap the sesame for roasted ground sunflower seeds and the result is sunflower halva. It is popular across the former Soviet Union, and in Bulgaria and Romania. Cocoa powder, vanilla or other nuts may join the mix. In 1996, Ukraine alone was producing around 4-5 thousand tonnes of it every year.

  Peanuts took halva across the Atlantic. At the beginning of the 20th century, Greek immigrants in Argentina made a peanut-butter version that became mantecol. It is now sold under the name Mantecol and also Nucrem, and it is widely eaten in the country.

  2526285052

• 5. Carrots, Bananas and Floss

  ›

  Gajar ka halwa, known in Bengali as gajorer halua, is a popular halva in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Cooks slow-cook grated carrots with milk, sugar and ghee, which is clarified butter. Cardamom often flavors it, and almonds, pistachios or cashews garnish the top. Some cooks stir in khoya, which is reduced milk solids, or condensed milk to make it richer.

  The coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal is famous for a banana halwa infused with whole cashews, pistachios or almonds. This authentic halwa is a specialty of the town's Muslims. Udupi cuisine goes further, with halwa made from banana, wheat, ashgourd and jackfruit.

  In the Azerbaijani region of Sheki, the name Şəki halvası belongs to something closer to a layered bakhlava-style pastry. It is filled with a spiced-nut mix. Crisscrossed patterns of red syrup, made from saffron, dried carrot and beetroot, decorate the top.

  Albanian halva, called hallvë, uses flour, sugar and olive oil and resembles nougat. It is often topped with nuts. Armenian halva tends to combine semolina flour, sesame, honey, butter and sugar.

  The most delicate relative is pişmaniye, or floss halva, prepared in Kocaeli, Turkey. Makers pull thin strands of wheat flour and sugar and wrap them continuously into a ball, which is then compressed. The result is as light as cotton candy. It comes in regular and pistachio flavors, and some brands carry halal or kosher certification. A similar floss-like sweet in Chinese cuisine, called dragon beard candy, is eaten as a snack or dessert.

  3839333620

• 6. Indian Kitchens

  ›

  Texts from medieval India may already describe a halwa. Written records of sweets in the Mānasollāsa mention shali-anna, a type of semolina halwa that South Indians know today as kesari. The link to halva is speculation, but India's range of regional versions is hard to dispute. Many are unique to a particular place.

  Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu is known for its wheat halwa. Making it is laborious, and the process is described as slowly disappearing. Unlike most sweets, it keeps its extra ghee instead of draining it, and the ghee forms an outer layer. That layer extends the shelf life. Locals credit the unusual taste to the water of the Thamirabarani.

  In Kerala, the history of Kozhikode halwa reaches back to the era of the Zamorin. The Zamorin invited chefs from Gujarat to prepare halwa for a royal feast and gave them places to stay beside the royal kitchen. That settlement grew into a street of sweet sellers, known today as SM Street, short for Sweet Meat, or Mittayitheruvu. Kozhikode halwa is made with pure coconut oil rather than ghee.

  The street's sweet also carries a religious meaning. Ayyappa devotees from the neighboring states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh buy halwa and chips as prasadam, sacred food. They hand it out to neighbors and friends, who eat it with religious zeal.

  4041424443

• 7. Feasts and Funerals

  ›

  In Turkey, halva marks the biggest moments of a life. It is served at births, circumcisions, weddings and religious gatherings. The tradition is to serve semolina halva at funerals, when someone leaves for or returns from the Hajj, and during Ramadan. Because of the funeral link, flour halva is also called ölü helvası in Turkish, meaning halva of the dead. The expression roasting halva for someone suggests that the person has died.

  Iranian halva is a related sweet made from wheat flour and butter, flavored with saffron and rose water. It ranges in color from yellow to dark brown. Cooks spread it thin on a plate and leave it until it dries into a paste. It is served at wedding celebrations, religious ceremonies and funerals.

  Greek Orthodox fasting gives halva a different job. Greeks traditionally avoid meat on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and for all of Great Lent. Halva fits those restrictions, and it also appears as a dessert and at paniyiria, which are village festivals. It is most commonly made of sesame or semolina. The exception comes from the Thessaly town of Farsala, where Halva Farsalon is made of cornflour.

  In the Syrian city of Hama, halawet al-mahya is a halwa of semolina and qatir made during the month of Sha'ban.

  In Somalia, halva is called xalwo, also spelled halwo or xalwa. It is made from sugar, oil and cornstarch, flavored with cardamom, nutmeg or cloves, and sometimes enriched with peanuts. Somali hosts serve it at weddings and Eid celebrations. They also offer it to guests alongside Somali tea or coffee as a symbol of hospitality.

  6462583647

• 8. Modern Shelves

  ›

  In the United States, halva sits in ethnic Indian, Jewish, Arab, Persian, Greek and Balkan community stores and delicatessens, as well as natural food stores. Much of it is imported, but some is made locally. The largest American producer is Joyva, which started out in Brooklyn.

  Raw food diets have produced their own halva. Proponents blend raw sesame tahini, raw almonds, raw agave nectar and salt, then freeze the mixture until it firms.

  The newest chapter in the source comes from Italy, where halva has become popular. In 2023, The Halva Lab, an artisanal confectionery laboratory, opened in Sassuolo. It makes halva inspired by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions, but without added sugars.

  6566295453