Sharbat

It is made as a concentrate thick enough to eat with a spoon, and diluted at the glass.

Vegan.

Ingredients

sekanjebin, the mint and vinegar one

• 800 g caster sugar
• 400 ml water
• 150 ml white wine vinegar
• 40 g mint, in sprigs

the pomegranate one

• 1 litre unsweetened pomegranate juice
• 600 g caster sugar
• juice of 1 lemon

the unripe grape one

• 1 kg unripe grapes
• 500 g caster sugar

Method

1. IT IS MADE AS A CONCENTRATE THICK ENOUGH TO EAT WITH A SPOON, AND DILUTED AT THE GLASS. Its article says this outright -- it can be served in concentrated form and eaten with a spoon -- and it changes how you make the thing. You are not making a drink, you are making a syrup that keeps for months in the fridge and becomes a drink one glass at a time, usually at about one part syrup to five of iced water. So it is boiled to a real syrup, not merely sweetened, and it is tasted at the concentration it will be drunk at rather than in the pan.
2. THREE KINDS, AND A 12TH-CENTURY PERSIAN TEXT NAMES THEM. Its article cites Gorgani listing the kinds made in the country, among them ghooreh, anar and sekanjebin -- unripe grape, pomegranate, and the vinegar-and-mint one. Those three are the ingredient groups above, and they are compositions rather than flavour suggestions.
3. SEKANJEBIN IS THE ODD AND BEST ONE, AND THE VINEGAR GOES IN LAST. Sugar and water boiled to a light syrup for fifteen minutes, then the vinegar in and another ten minutes, then the mint pushed under the surface off the heat and left until completely cold. Vinegar added at the start boils away most of its sharpness; mint boiled goes black and tastes of hay.
4. THE MINT IS STEEPED IN THE COOLING SYRUP AND THEN REMOVED. Whole sprigs, in while it is hot, out once it is cold. Left in, the leaves break down and the syrup clouds.
5. THE POMEGRANATE ONE IS REDUCED, NOT JUST SWEETENED. A litre of unsweetened juice with the sugar, simmered -- never boiled hard, which dulls it -- for forty minutes until it has reduced by about a third and coats a spoon. Lemon juice at the end to keep it sharp.
6. THE UNRIPE GRAPE ONE IS PRESSED RAW AND HEATED ONLY TO DISSOLVE THE SUGAR. Hard green grapes crushed and strained, then warmed with the sugar just until it has gone. Its sourness is the fresh, green, almost unpleasant kind and cooking it is what loses it.
7. ROSE AND OTHER FLOWER PETALS WORK THE SAME WAY. Its article describes sharbat as prepared from fruit or flower petals, and the method does not change: steep the petals in the hot syrup, strain when cold.
8. IT IS SERVED COLD AND IT KEEPS FOR MONTHS. Its article notes it is usually served chilled. The syrups keep in sterilised bottles in the fridge for three months; shake before pouring.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes