Murabba
Murabba is a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It is generally prepared with fruits, sugar, and spices.
Etymology
The word murabba is of Arabic origin. Murabbā in Arabic literally means "something made into rubb ". Rubb is fruit juice that has been cooked and thickened. 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.In Hindi, murabba refers to preserved fruits or jams.
History
The 10th-century Arabic cookbook kitab al-tabikh by Abbasid author Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq dedicates an entire chapter to making fruit conserves. Medieval cookbooks included recipes for rose petal murabba.The 1867 dictionary Arabic–English Lexicon by Edward William Lane described murabba as "preserves, or confections" made with "inpissated juice". An 1895 translation by Socrates Spiro described مربى in English as "jam" or "marmalade".
Regional varieties
India
In India, popular fruits that are candied and left in Its own syrup are apple, fig, cherry, pear, Indian gooseberry, raw mango, carrots, plum, quince, peach and winter melon.Arab world
In Lebanon and Syria, figs are traditionally made into anise-flavored murabba during the summer, often mixed with nuts. Mabroosha is a Levantine pie filled with murabba.Antebikh or ainabia is a traditional grape murabba from Hebron flavored with anise seeds.