Murabba
Sweet fruit preserve
- 1 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Balkans, Abbasid Caliphate and Rose
Etymology
The word murabba is of Arabic origin. Murabbā (مربّى) in Arabic literally means "something made into rubb (رُبّ)". Rubb is fruit juice that has been cooked and thickened (inspissated). The verb rabbā is used to refer to preserving fruit by cooking it with sugar or honey until it reduces and sets into a concentrated syrup.
In Hindi, murabba (Hindi: मुरब्बा) refers to preserved fruits or jams.
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
History
The 10th-century Arabic cookbook kitab al-tabikh by Abbasid author Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq dedicates an entire chapter to making fruit conserves (murabbayat). Medieval cookbooks included recipes for rose petal murabba.
The 1867 dictionary Arabic–English Lexicon by Edward William Lane described murabba as "preserves, or confections" made with "inspissated juice" (رب). An 1895 translation by Socrates Spiro described مربى (mirabby) in English as "jam" or "marmalade".
Regional varieties
India
In India, popular fruits that are candied and left in Its own syrup are apple, fig, cherry, pear, Indian gooseberry (amla), unripe mango, carrots, plum, quince, peach and winter melon.
Armenia
The most popular fruits and other ingredients turned into murabba (Armenian: մուրաբա) in Armenia/Armenian cuisine are watermelon, watermelon rind, quince, pumpkin, apricot, mulberry, raspberry, pear, cherry, cornelian cherry, plum, pomegranate, and walnut.
Arab world
In Lebanon and Syria, figs are traditionally made into anise-flavored murabba during the summer, often mixed with nuts. Mabroosha (Arabic: مبروشة, lit. 'brushed') is a Levantine pie filled with murabba.
Antebikh (Arabic: عنطبيخ) or ainabia (Arabic: عنبية) is a traditional grape murabba from Hebron flavored with anise seeds.