The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and baklava fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.
We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?
Baklava Fun Facts:
Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together with syrup or honey.
Baklava is the ancestor of strudel. It was brought to Hungary by Turkish invaders in the 16th century.
Phyllo dough is named after the greek word for “leaf”, being “as thin as a leaf”.
November 17th is National Baklava Day.
The origin of the name is disputed. Turkish etymologists claim an old Turkish origin. Others argue that the word “baklava” may come from the Mongolian root ba?la- ‘to tie, wrap up, pile up’ composed with the Turkic verbal
REGIONAL VARIATIONS:
- Greece, baklava is supposed to be made with 33 dough layers, referring to the years of Christ’s life.
- Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia, baklava is made with walnuts and sugar syrup.
- In the Balkans, it is a popular dessert. It is also made on special occasions, especially by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr, and by Christians duringPascha and Christmas.
- Armenia, paklava is made with cinnamon and cloves.
- Israel, baklava is made of phyllo pastry sheets, nuts, such as pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds, sweet butter, clove, sugar, cinnamon, and the syrup combined with orange and lemon rind.
- Jordan, baklava is made of dough layers filled with nuts, such as pistachios, and sugar or honey syrup.
- Lebanon, baklava is made of filo pastry filled with nuts and steeped in Attar syrup (orange or rose water or sugar) or honey. It is usually cut into triangular or diamond shapes.