Halva

Halva is a family of dense confections made mainly from sesame paste (tahini), semolina, flour or starch, sweetened with sugar or honey. The name comes from the Persian word for "sweet", and today it is made from North Africa and Eastern Europe to South Asia and the Levant.

History

Halva originated in Persia, in what is now Iran. Before the Islamic period, the category of confections that would later become halva was called rōγn xwardīg in Middle Persian, meaning "oil food", which shows that fat was a defining element from the start.

In seventh-century Arabia, the word referred to a paste of dates kneaded with milk. By the ninth century it was applied to many kinds of sweets, including the cooked and sweetened semolina or flour paste that is now familiar. The earliest detailed recipes come from the thirteenth-century Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (The Book of Dishes) and from an anonymous cookbook from al-Andalus of the same period.

The Greek writer Athenaeus mentions an ancient dish called sesamidios, a round cake made of honey, roasted sesame seeds and oil, which is considered to be the forerunner of the sesame version. Halva was also eaten in the Byzantine Empire, where it is well documented. Later the Ottomans adopted it, including the sesame version, and spread it throughout their empire.

A description of sesame halwa appears in an 1844 dictionary by a Swedish orientalist. According to the magazine Al Adib, a factory producing tahini halwa was already operating in Beirut in 1874. In the early twentieth century, Greek immigrants in Argentina created mantecol, a halva made from peanut butter that is still sold under that name and as Nucrem.

In the United States, halva can be found in shops serving Indian, Jewish, Arab, Persian, Greek and Balkan communities. The Brooklyn company Joyva, founded in 1906, is the largest American producer. In Italy, The Halva Lab was set up in Sassuolo in 2023, making halva inspired by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions but without added sugars.

Culture

Because the name covers so many recipes, there is no single halva but several families with very different textures. Semolina halva, common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and the Balkans, is gelatinous and very sweet, often enriched with butter or oil and studded with nuts and raisins. Tahini halva is drier and slightly crumbly. It is typical of the Middle East, Greece, Poland and the eastern Mediterranean, and in Israel it is sold in slabs, often flavoured with vanilla or swirled with chocolate.

India has many local versions. Gajar halwa is made by slowly cooking grated carrot with milk, sugar and ghee, and it is one of the most popular sweets in the country. In Bhatkal, on the coast of Karnataka, a banana halwa studded with cashews, pistachios or almonds is a specialty of the local Muslim community. In Kozhikode, Kerala, halwa is tied to the court of the Zamorin, who invited cooks from Gujarat, and it is made with coconut oil. In Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, a wheat halwa is prepared through a laborious process.

In the Arab world, halva accompanies celebrations and family moments. In Turkey it is served at births, circumcisions, weddings and religious gatherings, and during Ramadan. Semolina halva is also served at funerals, which is why flour halva is sometimes called "halva of the dead" in Turkish. In Iran, a wheat-flour halva flavoured with saffron and rosewater is served at weddings, religious ceremonies and funerals.

In Greece, halva is a traditional food of the Orthodox fasting periods and is also served at village festivals called paniyiria. The cornflour version from Farsala, in Thessaly, is linked to the arrival of refugees from Asia Minor after 1922. In Somalia, xalwo is made from sugar, oil and cornstarch and served at weddings and at Eid. In Albania, halva usually contains flour, sugar and olive oil and resembles nougat.

Today halva can be found in ethnic food shops, delicatessens and natural food stores in many cities. It has also adapted to new trends, from raw versions made with tahini, almonds and agave to halva ice cream with pistachios and silan, a date syrup typical of Israel.

Trivia