Sharbat (drink)

Sharbat (Persian: شربت, pronounced [ʃæɾˈbæt]; also transliterated as shorbot, šerbet or sherbet) is a drink prepared from fruit or flower petals.

Sharbat is common in homes of Iran, Turkey, Bosnia, Arab world, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, and popularly consumed by Muslims when breaking their daily fast during the month of Ramadan.

[12] In the 12th century, Persian book of Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi, Gorgani describes different types of Sharbats in Iran, including Ghoore, Anar, Sekanjebin, etc.

A contemporary English writer traveling in the Middle East wrote of "sundry sherbets … some made of sugar and lemons, some of violets, and the like."

When Europeans figured out how to freeze sherbet they began making sorbetto by adding fruit juices and flavorings to a frozen simple syrup base.

[6] One sharbat recorded in the 19th-century cookbook by Friedrich Unger is called gülgülü tiryaki şerbet which means "pink opium-eater's sherbet".

In Turkey tamarind sherbet, called demirhindi şerbeti, might be flavored with cloves, cardamom, fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, honey, sage and dried linden flowers.

An Indian lemonade called nimbu pani is made with fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice with additional flavorings like ginger, mint, saffron, kewra or even crushed black pepper.

Vetiver sherbet can be used as a flavoring for milkshakes, lassi and other yogurt drinks, ice cream, Shirley Temples and other mixed beverages.

The latter is slightly acidulated, and in general made of fresh lemon, quince, orange or cherry juice, or of candied grapes, mulberries, and Damascus plums, squeezed or diluted in cold water, and thus drank at all hours.

But the khoshâb (agreeable water) forms the termination of all orthodox dinners, and is composed of preserved fruits or syrups, such as Aidin pomegranates, Mardin plums, Damascus and Bokhara apricots, Rodosto peaches, Scala Nuova cherries, Beybek strawberries, Adrianople roses, tamarinds, and so forth.

"The Ottoman writer Evliya Çelebi records that the Merchants of Khoshâb in Ottoman Egypt made khoshâb, which he calls "a kind of sherbet", from "the juice of the most excellent fruits, such as apricots of Bokhara, plums of Mardin, pears of Azerbaijan, mulberries of Arabguir, grapes of Smyrna, sour cherries (aigriottes) of Rodosto, apples of Koja Ili, prunes of Temesvar, and peaches of Constantinople."

He goes on to describe a different group of sherbet-merchants whose shops are decorated with "many thousand cups and bowls of China and Fayence, which are filled with sherbet, made of rhubarb, roses, lemons, lotus, tamarinds and grapes.

[31][35] Common sharbat flavors include tamarind, pomegranate, black mulberry, sour grape, licorice, morello cherry, rose, honey.

[41] One recipe for "Ottoman sherbet" calls for sugared sour cherries, dried plums, golden raisins, fresh ginger, cloves, cinnamon sticks to be simmered together.

In Algerian weddings, the bride drinks a large quantity of this traditional beverage and then offers it to her female guests after the hammam ritual, along with brioche pastries called kâak bouchkara.