One of my favorite things to do when I am in Jerusalem is to go to the shuk and check out the halvah. I love the bustle and energy of shopping there. The fresh produce, the spice shops, the fresh baked pita, all the stalls draw me in inviting me to purchase just a bit of this and a bit of that. But no display grabs me quite like the halvah stand. Huge slabs of halvah in every imaginable flavor, with the shopkeeper handing out samples so good you just can’t help but buy some. I always end up buying way too much, but no one seems to complain when I bring it home.
Since I don’t live in Jerusalem and don’t have the good fortune of regularly shopping at the shuk I wanted to try to recreate some of that amazing halvah in my own kitchen. It turns out that the flaky yet creamy texture that makes halvah so alluring it somewhat dependent on making industrial sized batches, which makes it a bit tricky to translate to the home kitchen. That being said, I have come up with a method that yields delicious halvah that is so much fresher and more delicious than any packaged halvah available for purchase. It is slightly less flaky than the halvah I remember from the shuk but it comes very close in texture and matches it in flavor.
Coffee Halvah
The key to this halvah is cooking the sugar to the right temperature and not overbeating it. It sounds difficult but really it isn’t hard. Half an hour and some cooling time are all that stands between you and delicious homemade halvah. The beauty of making homemade halvah is that you can adapt the flavor in all kinds of creative ways. The standard vanilla and marble are always popular, but I have to say one of my surprise favorites is coffee halvah. It sounds like a strange combination, I know, but the subtle coffee undertones and the crunch of the coffee beans are perfect with the sweet sesame flavor. These recipes are just jumping off points. Take the marble halvah recipe and swap out the chocolate for a couple of handfuls of pistachios, some chopped dried fruit, or some minced crystallized ginger. The sky is the limit when it comes to flavors, which really is the most fun part of making something at home.
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No.
“You should never buy gribenes from a mohel – it’s so chewy!” It causes A kramp im in di gederem. Es vais di doktor vemes flaish zi hot oifgegessen!
Thanks for sharing
I was born in egypt and it there as a sweet and sometimes people eat it with breads. Because Israel is in close to Arabs land U can find it there too as anything from the middle east.
I don’t know what halvah means in other languages either. I have also seen a few different kinds of halva and they are all great in their own way.
Halva is from Halawa, which is from Hiliwa in Arabic meaning “Sweet”. Like we will say hiliwa baladi to say “sweet darling” … Halawa is one , Halawi refers to many Halawa , it seems mostly in nonArabic nations the word Halva is used. E.g. by Israelis, by Jews everywhere, by Indians, by Persians, by Turks, by Greeks, … With one parent Azeri and the other Syrian, we grew up eating this regularly, and often after Yom Kippur fasting. My favorite halawi comes from Jerusalem and Lebanon. I am also impressed with the Jewish variety in America , its like of like how Greeks and Crypiots make it, creamy and often swirled with chocolate or other flavors. My mother would make hers using molasses & tahini, and some sugar, and then coat it with a jelled substance made of mastic & mahlab and decorate with flowers you can eat. I miss those days, but thank Hashem there are so many choices in Israel and many other nations.
U can get that from whole food in RI. Good luck.
The word halva means sweet in arabic. I do’ t know about other countries. . We have both the halva in different kind some are like angel hair in bulk which I really like. some others are like a bulk kind like shaped as a loaf of bread..
some of us here can’t have sugar. Can one make chalva with xylitol?
great recipe
I think I might actually like the coffee version! Going to have to try this soon.
Really miss halvah. Hard to find in Colorado. Heck, it’s hard to find anything here! Altitude is going to be really tricky on sugar temp!
Shoshana thank you SO much for this post!!! My grandmother introduced me to halva as a little girl – we ate the packaged kind in Philly and I loved it. When I came to Israel and hit that shuk with all those flavors and that shop keeper you mentioned I went crazy! I actually adore the idea of coffee flavor after which the dried fruit sounds fantastical!!! Thanks for this post!