Qudameh, the roasted chickpeas of Damascus

Qudameh is the roasted chickpea of Damascus, the same snack known in Turkey as leblebi. It reached the city in the Ottoman period. According to an Asharq Al-Awsat report based on interviews with Damascus roasters, until recently it was the most common nut-shop snack in Damascus and other Syrian cities. Making it takes more than a month.

How it is made

The chickpeas are cleaned of field debris and heated for the first time on a metal griddle, a stage called tahmis. They then rest stacked in large wooden chests for about a week, and the skins loosen. After that they are spread on the floor for a week to take up moisture.

A second heating follows, then the chests again. The chickpeas are cooled, washed, dried in cube-shaped chests and sorted by size. The final roasting is again on the griddle: the chickpeas are rubbed with a hand-held wooden box and the skins are discarded.

Which kinds there are

• Yellow qudameh: unsalted, the basic kind.
• Mghabbara: dusted with powdered salt.
• Sugared: coated in sugar and offered with mlabbas, sugared almonds, on happy occasions.
• Spiced and smoked: a kind invented by the Bayrakdar family.
• Floured: coated in wheat flour.

A family name, a machine and a song

The trade left a surname in Damascus: Qudmani. Jamil Bayrakdar, of the Bayrakdar roastery in the Old City, built a machine in the 1950s that moved the work onto machines. Qudameh turns up at weddings too: at Damascus weddings the bride is praised in a song with the line «ya qudameh mghabbara».

Why it declined

According to the same report, qudameh long sat at the top of the nut plate alongside sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds and pistachios. It fell back when coated peanuts and cashews reached the shelves.

Is it different from leblebi

The product is the same: roasted chickpeas with the skins removed. The difference lies in the kinds. The salt-dusted mghabbara, the sugared kind for wedding trays and the Bayrakdar family’s smoked spiced version belong to Damascus.

Where to find it

In roasters and nut shops in Damascus. The sugared kind goes onto the hospitality plate next to mlabbas at weddings and Eid.