Murabba

Murabba
Peach murabba
Region or stateSouth Caucasus, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia
Main ingredientsfruits, berries, nuts, sugar
  •   Media: Murabba

Murabba (from Arabic: مربى) is a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. A similar dish to murabba (spoon sweets) is also popular in the Balkans. It is generally prepared with fruits, sugar, and spices.[1][2][3][4]

Etymology

Look up murabba in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word murabba is of Arabic origin.[3] 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.[5][6]

In Hindi, murabba (Hindi: मुरब्बा) refers to preserved fruits or jams.[7]

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).[8][3] Medieval cookbooks included recipes for rose petal murabba.[9]

The 1867 dictionary Arabic–English Lexicon by Edward William Lane described murabba as "preserves, or confections" made with "inpissated juice" (رب).[5] An 1895 translation by Socrates Spiro described مربى (mirabby) in English as "jam" or "marmalade".[10]

Regional varieties

India

In India, popular fruits that are candied and left in Its own syrup are apple, fig, cherry, pear, Indian gooseberry (amla), raw mango, carrots, plum, quince, peach and winter melon.[11][4][3]

Arab world

In Lebanon and Syria, figs are traditionally made into anise-flavored murabba during the summer, often mixed with nuts.[12][13][14] Mabroosha (Arabic: مبروشة, lit. 'brushed') is a Levantine pie filled with murabba.[15][16][17]

Antebikh (Arabic: عنطبيخ) or ainabia (Arabic: عنبية) is a traditional grape murabba from Hebron flavored with anise seeds.[18][19][20]

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.[21][22][23][24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Roden, Claudia (24 December 2008). "Murabbiyat". The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 467–474. ISBN 978-0-307-55856-5. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  2. ^ "Winter Superfoods: Here Are 5 Murabbas That Are Highly Beneficial For You". NDTV. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d Chatterjee, Priyadarshini (27 July 2022). "Thank Mughal love for fruit for murabba's popularity in India". Scroll.in. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Raw mango, sugar, and spice turn into murabba eaten for centuries". CNBC TV18. 12 May 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Lane's Lexicon - The Arabic Lexicon". Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  6. ^ "تعريف و شرح و معنى مربى بالعربي". Almaany. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  7. ^ McGregor, R. S. (Ronald Stuart) (1993). "The Oxford Hindi-English dictionary". dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  8. ^ al-Warrāq, al-Muẓaffar Ibn Naṣr Ibn Sayyār (26 November 2007). "MAKING CONSERVES AND ELECTUARIES". Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayy?r Al-Warr?q's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-15867-2. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  9. ^ Koshy, Tessy (20 April 2022). "Medieval recipes and culinary secrets in Egyptian cookbook 'The Sultan's Feast'". The National. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  10. ^ Spiro, Socrates (1895). An Arabic-English Vocabulary of the Colloquial Arabic of Egypt: Containing the Vernacular Idioms and Expressions, Slang Phrases, Etc., Etc., Used by the Native Egyptians (in Arabic). Al-Mokattam printing office. p. 217. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  11. ^ "What makes 'Amla Murabba' a classic winter dish? Know its historical roots and health benefits". CNBCTV18. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  12. ^ Accad, Joumana (2 September 2014). Taste of Beirut: 175+ Delicious Lebanese Recipes from Classics to Contemporary to Mezzes and More. Health Communications, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7573-1770-5. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  13. ^ "حضروا مربّى التّين لمونة الشّتاء" [Prepare fig jam for winter]. An-Nahar (in Arabic). 9 September 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  14. ^ "طريقة عمل مربى التين الشيف عمر.. مقادير الطريقة السورية واللبنانية" [How to make fig jam, Chef Omar's recipe... Ingredients for the Syrian and Lebanese methods]. Cairo24 (in Arabic). 17 November 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  15. ^ El-Haddad, Laila M.; Schmitt, Maggie (2016). The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. Just World Books. ISBN 978-1-68257-008-1. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  16. ^ "حلوى سورية.. طريقة عمل مبروشة المربى" [Syrian sweet: How to make murabba-filled mabroosha]. Sada El-Balad (in Arabic). 26 April 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  17. ^ "طريقة عمل المبروشة.. حلوى شامية لذيذة المذاق" [How to make Mabrousha... a delicious Levantine dessert]. Al-Ain News (in Arabic). 26 September 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  18. ^ Cooke, Rachel (18 May 2025). "Sami Tamimi". The Observer. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  19. ^ "مواقد الدبس.. تقليد سنوي لا يفارق جلسات الفلسطينيين بالخليل" [Molasses stoves... an annual tradition that never leaves the gatherings of Palestinians in Hebron]. Anadolu Agency (in Arabic). 1 September 2021.
  20. ^ "حكواتي: تطلي الخليل... أو عنطبيخ جنوب إفريقيا" [Storyteller: Hebron's glaze... or South African stew]. The New Arab (in Arabic). 28 April 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  21. ^ "Armenian Watermelon Rind Preserves (Մուրաբա)". Earth to Veg.
  22. ^ "Սերկևիլի մուրաբա". Xohanoc.
  23. ^ "Mulberries in Armenia: History, Harvesting, & How Armenians Use Them". Absolute Armenia.
  24. ^ Leahy, Kate; Lee, John; Zada, Ara (22 June 2023). Lavash: The Bread that Launched 1,000 meals, Plus Salads, Stews, and Other Recipes from Armenia. Chronicle Books. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-4521-7267-5. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
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