Qishta, Arab Clotted Cream

Qishta comes out of the milk’s own fat. Fresh milk goes into wide, shallow trays and stays there for hours at about 60 degrees; the layer of fat and protein that gathers on top is lifted off with a spoon. No culture, no rennet. In Syria the source is given as Hama, and the everyday name for it is Hama cream.

How it is made

The milk never comes to a boil. It is held at about 60 degrees, and if the heat climbs you get foam instead of cream. Each layer is lifted, then the tray waits again; the wider and shallower the tray, the more it yields. What comes off is not a pouring cream. It is a porous, spongy sheet that holds its shape on the spoon. Yoghurt needs a culture and cheese needs rennet; qishta takes neither, and nothing ferments. Anatolian kaymak and Indian khoa work by the same heat, and the difference is in the texture.

How old it is

Kanz al-fawa’id, a cookbook compiled in medieval Egypt, describes heating milk, letting it cool and skimming what gathers on top. A dictionary printed by Socrates Spiro in 1895 gives qishta in a single word: cream. From Hama it travelled to Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Anatolia, and Egyptians call their version baladi cream.

Where to eat it

Two kinds sit on a sweet shop counter. The plain one is spooned into a bowl under honey and crushed pistachio, and it is also what goes between the layers of a fruit cocktail. The second is thickened with starch or flour, cooked qishta in Arabic. Most shops use that one as a filling, because it holds its shape on the tray and lasts longer. Which of the two is inside the pastry you are buying is a question for the counter.

What to check before you buy

Qishta spoils fast. Even refrigerated it lasts a few days, so a tray standing on an open counter through a hot afternoon is a risk you do not need. Take what is kept in a chilled case, and leave anything that smells sour. It is dairy — skip it if lactose is a problem.