This is part 3 of 4 in a food series leading up to my trip to Tehran in May. Consider these pieces as hype for what is to come when I land in the middle east! Read part 2 about sour cherries here.
What do you think of when you think of rosewater?
Perfume? Body Lotion? Facial tonic?
I think of akbar mashi, a traditional Persian ice cream infused with saffron and rosewater, mixed with pistachios and frozen bits of clotted cream.
I think of all the other Persian deserts lathered in rosewater like their versions of baklava and nougats.
I also think of cardamom, since it’s used just as often as rosewater in Persian sweets.
I think of the bakery two blocks away from my grandparents house in Tehran whose sweet mid-afternoon bake we could smell all summer long.
I think of the Persian bakery café called Orchideh and the several Persian ice cream shops on Westwood Blvd here in Los Angeles that are constantly bustling with ex-pats and their first-generation kids.
I think of my own pantry and how when I started filling it with essentials my mom gave me a bottle of rosewater from our local Persian market (what was I supposed to use it for? I never even asked, it was just a given that I should have a bottle on hand)
But I have a confession to make: I don’t love Persian desserts! I don’t love akbar mashti and I wouldn’t choose to get my sweets from Orchideh. I don’t know why— my mom doesn’t like them either.
Maybe because there’s not a lot of diversity in flavor? Cardamom, pistachios, rosewater, cardamom, pistachios, rosewater, cardamom, pistachios, rosewater…
I grew up eating so much of it, but it just never stuck.
What did stick though are the memories — Friday night gatherings at my grandparents’ house ending with a bowl of ice cream, running to the bakery down the street for a box of sweets to bring to another aunt’s house, Persian new year cookies from the grocery stores in Westwood, and of course, starting to see rosewater explode in the American skincare market lol.
Every week I’m going to come to you with an international, non-English music suggestion! If you have any you’d like me to share with my readers, please send them along.
Here’s one in Italian by La Rappresentante di Lista:
i loooove ciao ciao! great choice!
I loooove ciao ciao! Great choice!