Cardamom and Tea

While you can eat date syrup and qaymar (also known as qaimar, geimar, kaymak, and sarshir) with a number of different foods, and while each is absolutely divine on its own, the two spread together on pita make a very special treat for breakfast.

Date syrup has a molassesey intensity, with a lovely sugary date flavor. Molasses’ pleasantly metallic flavor, which people either love or hate, comes through a lot more subtly in date syrup. This makes date syrup something that both molasses fans and haters can get on board with. Date syrup is delicious on anything you might otherwise cover in molasses, maple syrup, or honey. Try it in yogurt, tea, a smoothie, or alongside apple slices.

Qaymar is a thickened cream (a little like clotted cream), which is traditionally made from water buffalo cream. I’ve lived in the US my whole life, where it’s difficult to find the water buffalo version, but the kind of qaymar made from cow’s cream is very accessible. You can spread qaymar on just about anything that you suspect would be even tastier topped with whipped cream or butter. Dot some qaymar over waffles, pancakes, English muffins, tea biscuits, or scones.

While it’s easy to find store-bought qaymar, if you’re someone who enjoys making things from scratch every once in a while, it’s much more impressive than it is challenging, and completely worth the effort. Homemade qaymar adds a little extra fanciness to a humble weekend brunch.

date syrup and qaymar | clotted cream

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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 1/4 hours to 12 1/4 hours
Yield: approximately 2 cups

Ingredients

1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 tablespoons (1 ounce) corn starch
A small pinch of salt
Serving suggestions: bread, cookies, fruit, date syrup, jam (see more options above)

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Instructions

Add the cream, cornstarch, and salt to a quart mason jar. Shake the jar for about 30 seconds, just until there are no more lumps (but not so much that you make whipped cream). *
Add the cornstarch/cream mixture to a small saucepan, turn the heat to medium, and stir constantly until the qaymar comes to a simmer and thickens (about 5 to 7 minutes). Once it starts to simmer, remove from heat.
Pour into a container for storage. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (12 is ideal).
Spoon into a bowl and serve.

Notes

* If you don’t have a jar handy, you can add a quarter cup of cream to the cornstarch in a bowl. Whisk them together until there are no lumps, and then slowly add the rest of the whipping cream as you continue whisking.

“Baharat” simply means spices in Arabic, but often refers to a seven spice blend. Think of this one sort of like a Lebanese version of garam masala. The warm notes of coriander, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg give the blend a lovely well-rounded flavor.

one recipe, two options

The recipe at the end of this post gives you two ways of making it: You can measure all your ingredients to yield about 1 cup. Or you could make whatever size batch you’d like with ratios.

How do you use a recipe that says something like “1 part paprika”? You just find an item you can use to measure something—it could be a thimble or it could be a coffee mug—and you use that as your “1 part.” Then you just add however many parts the recipe calls for. So 12 thimbles of black pepper and 1 thimble of cardamom. Or 12 coffee mugs of black pepper and 12 coffee mugs of cardamom. The choice is yours!

Baharat storage and use

A spice blend is the kind of thing that you make in a big batch and use over the course of a several months to a year (it will last closer to a year if stored in a sealed glass or stainless steel container). While it takes a small amount of effort up front, you’ll reap the benefits for a long time.

If I’m cooking with this spice blend (as opposed to just sprinkling it), I usually temper it in oil over low heat for about 1 to 2 minutes, which gives it a toastier flavor. But it’s also delicious sprinkled as-is.

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