Mlabbas, Syrian sugared almonds

Mlabbas are almonds or Aleppo pistachios, lightly toasted and coated layer by layer in copper pans with sugar scented with rose water. In Damascus they are handed out in small cellophane-wrapped bundles at weddings, mawlid gatherings, Eid and births. Fresh Damascus mlabbas are soft and keep for only a week.

How they are made

The almonds are lightly toasted. They turn in copper pans over a low flame while syrup scented with rose water or orange blossom water is added, and a thin coat of sugar sets around them. Each repeat thickens the shell. The colour goes in with the same water; Damascus mlabbas are mostly pink or blue.

What the name means

The word comes from the Arabic root for wearing or dressing: mlabbas is an almond that has been dressed in sugar. According to Arabic Wikipedia, the technique developed in Damascus more than two centuries ago. Aleppo pistachios or chickpeas are coated the same way in place of almonds.

When they are handed out

On the table at weddings and mawlids sit bundles called buqjat in Damascus dialect, silver-coloured or wrapped in cellophane and filled with mlabbas. At a birth they are offered to guests who visit on the baby’s seventh day, the sebou. Karawya is the sweet served in a bowl on that same visit; mlabbas is the treat handed to each guest.

How they differ from packaged dragées

The same family is known as noghl in Iran and as dragées in Europe. The difference is freshness. Damascus mlabbas are eaten within a week of being made, and while soft they are easy on the teeth. Packaged dragées that sit on a shelf for weeks harden and need the back teeth to crack. Because of that short life, the popular Damascus kind is not exported.

Where to find them

In Damascus, wherever there is a wedding, a mawlid, Eid or a new baby. The bundles are handed round at the occasion itself, and the fresh kind is not found outside the city.