Thursday, October 1, 2009

Fard’s Persian Pistachio Nougat

Fard's Persian Pistachio NougatA couple of weeks ago I visited a Middle-Eastern market in Orange County called Jordan Market. They had a great selection of hard to find Persian and Middle Eastern confections. They had several brands & styles of Halvah, Turkish Delight and, as the title of this review shows, Persian Nougat.

Anyone who’s been reading along on Candy Blog knows I’m a pushover for nougat. I’ve had Persian nougat before (I get it in little individually wrapped pieces at Mashti Malone’s Ice Cream in Hollywood), but I was attracted to this large box both by the price and the statement on the box: All Natural Persian Nougat - Packed in Flour in the Traditional Way.

I’m accustomed to Turkish Delight being packed in corn starch so figured this would be a similar powdery experience.

Persian nougat it different from French, Italian & Spanish nougat in that they don’t use honey in it. Instead the primary flavor is rosewater (sometimes orange blossom).

Fard's Persian Pistachio Nougat

The box was shrink wrapped to keep it fresh. Inside the waxed paper sheets fold back to reveal what at first looks like a box of loose flour. A little shake of the box and the lumps of nougat are revealed.

This is the messy part thought. I took out a couple of “cakes” of the stuff and dusted them off with the brush I use to clean my shooting table. Underneath the plain cake flour are little white irregular pieces that look like raw biscuits. They’re about 2 1/2 inches around and lumpy. They smell rather like flour.

Fard's Persian Pistachio Nougat

The nougat is pretty firm so biting into them is a little bit tough. (Though they are easily cut into bite size pieces with a sharp knife.)

Once I broke through the powdery outsides, it was easy to get a sense of the personality of the traditional Persian nougat.

It’s liberally dotted with green pistachios and has a smooth chew with a strong rosewater flavor. I happen to like rosewater and of course pistachios have a grassy & floral note to them as well. (I think this nougat also comes in an almond variety.) It’s flowery without being too soapy for me, but Robin from next door did think it was a little too much like grandma’s purse. Amy-Who-Spits-Things-Out came by for seconds today though.

Each piece is a large portion, there are 12 in the box which means that they’re each about 1.33 ounces each. Quite satisfying.

I think next time I’ll go for the individually wrapped pieces because my only real issue with them is the horrible mess ... which probably keeps me from eating the whole box.

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  5. Lifesaver Musk
  6. Nougat de Montelimar
  7. Halvah and Turkish Delight
Name: Persian Pistachio Nougat
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Fard Candies
Place Purchased: Jordan Market (Laguna Hills, CA)
Price: $5.99
Size: 16 ounces
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Nougat, Nuts, United States, All Natural, Kosher,Fard Company

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:41 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. wait…so do you end up eating a bunch of raw flour?  i remember mom always saying not to do that or else we’d get belly-aches O_o

    Comment by piper maru on 10/01/09 at 1:34 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    piper - you just have to dust them off. I ended up putting a couple into a napkin, folding it over them and then gently tossing them around to get the flour off.

    Comment by Cybele on 10/01/09 at 1:38 pm #
  3. Made in US?  You have them labeled that way.  I like these in principle, but I’m a little turned off by the raw flour and possible soapy/grandma purse flavor.

    Comment by Dave on 10/01/09 at 2:42 pm #
  4. Cybele's avatar

    Yup, made not only in the US, but in Long Beach, CA which is quite local to me (and Orange County). And oddly enough, Kosher.

    Yeah, the flour is just a bit much and it will probably get a better score when it’s neater & more shareable in the individually wrapped bite size pieces. But I have to finish this pound first.

    Comment by Cybele on 10/01/09 at 2:48 pm #
  5. Did the box say it was flour?  Normally it’s corn starch or powdered sugar.

    Comment by Birdy on 10/02/09 at 1:57 am #
  6. Nougat, yum, one of my favorites too. I see what you mean about the mess, sometimes turkish delight has that problem too. I haven’t seen the brand you review, but luckily where I live in Brooklyn we have some amazing Middle Eastern markets, so I think I might have to go see what they have in the way of Persian Nougat. But I’ll look for the individual wrappers!

    Comment by CandyProfessor on 10/02/09 at 4:58 am #
  7. I’m glad it tastes good because it doesn’t look very appetizing.  Without your review, I probably wouldn’t give them a try.

    Comment by Pam Walter on 10/03/09 at 3:41 pm #
  8. Here’s how my mom breaks these up- I tell you because I’m amazed that it works: Grab a spoon, hold a round of nougat in your palm, and smack it evenly with the back of the spoon. I suppose keeping the nougat on a flat surface would work just fine too. If smacked correctly and firmly in the middle, they should break up into nice quarters. I don’t know how or why it happens, but I’ve seen it enough times to accept it.

    Comment by Zahra on 10/11/09 at 5:52 am #
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