A dish of booza topped with pistachios served at the Bakdash ice cream shop in Damascus
Booza (Arabic: بُوظَة, romanized: Būẓah, lit. 'ice cream') is a frozen dairy dessert. Its traditionally made through a process of pounding[3] and stretching in a freezer drum, instead of the more usual churning method used in other ice creams, leading to a creamy yet dense texture.[4][5][6]Orange flower water[7] or rose water are sometimes added for flavoring.[1]
History
Author Mary Isin [tr] dates booza back to the 15th century in the Levant region.[2]
Ancient Damascus
In Al-Hamidiyah Souq in the Old City of Damascus, there is an ice cream store named Bakdash that is known throughout the Arab world for its stretchy and chewy ice cream. It is a popular attraction for tourists as well.[8][1]
International usage
A brother and sister team (Jilbert El-Zmetr and Tedy Altree-Williams) pioneered and created the first packaged version of booza in Australia in 2011. Using local ingredients together with sahlab and mastic (from the island of Chios, Greece), they recreated the traditional form of booza and packaged this in a take-home format available to consumers.[9]
In 2018, a booza scoop-shop named Republic of Booza opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, US, by Tamer Rabbani and Michael Sadler.[3][10]
Booza vendors can be found outside the Levant region in areas like the Bay area, US,[7] and Sydney, Australia.[11]
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