Baqsama: snow with grape molasses

Baqsama is the winter ice cream of As-Suwayda, made when snow falls. Clean snow is beaten to break down the grains, then grape molasses is poured over and stirred in until the mixture reaches the texture of ice cream. It exists only on snow days. Nobody makes it with ice or in a freezer.

How it is made

The snow is beaten with a spoon or whisked and gathered into a wide bowl. The molasses goes on top and the two are stirred until they set to an ice-cream consistency. It is then shared out into small bowls, or everyone eats from the common dish. Some families also add milk and sugar.

Why the third snow

Nobody makes it with the first snow. A saying from As-Suwayda sets the order: the first snow is poison, the second is blood, the third you eat without a worry. An eSyria article from 2008 records the same rule in the villages on the slopes of Mount Hermon.

Where the molasses comes from

The base is As-Suwayda’s own grape molasses, dibs al-inab. Made from the vineyards of Jabal al-Arab after the autumn harvest, it waits in the pantry through winter and is opened for baqsama when the snow arrives.

Where to eat it

At home, by the stove. It is offered to neighbours and relatives who call on a snow day. Nobody sells it. In February 2021, when snow on Dahr al-Jabal reached a metre, households in As-Suwayda making it became news.