What is the Origin of Baklava?

Question

We received a gift of Baklava at work today and ther are several differing opinions of the traditional origin of Baklava. Some say Greece, I am from an area of the country (U.S.) with a high concentration of Armenian imigrants and this was a common item to find in Armenian shops of the area. Can anyone be more difinitive?

Answer 1

The History of Baklava


THE ORIGIN:
Like the origins of most recipes that came from Old Countries to enrich the dinner tables of the Americas, the exact origin of baklava is also something hard to put the finger on because every ethnic group whose ancestry goes back to the Middle East has a claim of their own on this scrumptious pastry.



Recipe for Baklava



It is widely believed however, that the Assyrians at around 8th century B.C. were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread dough, with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens. This earliest known version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. In fact, historically baklava was considered a food for the rich until mid-19th century.

In Turkey, to this day one can hear a common expression often used by the poor, or even by the middle class, saying: "I am not rich enough to eat baklava and boerek every day".

REGIONAL INTERACTIONS:
The Greek seamen and merchants traveling east to Mesopotamia soon discovered the delights of Baklava. It mesmerized their taste buds. They brought the recipe to Athens. The Greeks' major contribution to the development of this pastry is the creation of a dough technique that made it possible to roll it as thin as a leaf, compared to the rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough. In fact, the name "Phyllo" was coined by Greeks, which means "leaf" in the Greek language. In a relatively short time, in every kitchen of wealthy households in the region, trays of baklava were being baked for all kinds of special occasions from the 3rd Century B.C. onwards. The Armenians, as their Kingdom was located on ancient Spice and Silk Routes, integrated for the first time the cinnamon and cloves into the texture of baklava. The Arabs introduced the rose-water and cardamom. The taste changed in subtle nuances as the recipe started crossing borders. To the north of its birthplace, baklava was being baked and served in the palaces of the ancient Persian kingdom. To the west, it was baked in the kitchens of the wealthy Roman mansions, and then in the kitchens of the Byzantine Empire until the fall of the latter in 1453 A.D.

THE PERFECTION:
In the 15th Century A.D., the Ottomans invaded Constantinople to the west, and they also expanded their eastern territories to cover most of ancient Assyrian lands and the entire Armenian Kingdom. The Byzanthion Empire came to an end, and in the east Persian Kingdom lost its western provinces to the invaders. For four hundred years from 16th Century on, until the decline of Ottoman Empire in 19th Century, the kitchens of Imperial Ottoman Palace in Constantinople became the ultimate culinary hub of the empire.

The artisans and craftsmen of all Guilds, the bakers, cooks and pastry chefs who worked in the Ottoman palaces, at the mansions of Pashas and Viziers, and at Provincial Governor (Vali) residences etc., had to be recruited from various ethnic groups that composed the empire. Armenian, Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Assyrian and occasionally Serbian, Hungarian or even French chefs were brought to Constantinople, to be employed at the kitchens of the wealthy. These chefs contributed enormously to the interaction and to the refinement of the art of cooking and pastry-making of an Empire that covered a vast region to include the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Persia, Armenia, Iraq and entire Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and the Mediterranean and Aegean islands. Towards the end of 19th Century, small pastry-shops started to appear in Constantinople and in major Provincial capitals, to cater the middle class, but the Ottoman Palace have always remained the top culinary "academy" of the Empire, until its end in 1923.

Here, we must mention that there's a special reason for baklava being the top choice of pastry for the Turkish Sultans with their large Harems, as well as for the wealthy and their families. Two principal ingredients, the pistachio and honey, were believed to be aphrodisiacs when taken regularly. Certain spices that were added to baklava, have also helped to fine-tune and to augment the aphrodisiac characteristics of the pastry, depending on male or female consumer. Cinnamon for females, and cardamom for males and cloves for both sexes.

From 18th century on, there was nothing much to add to baklava's already perfectioned taste and texture. There were however, some cosmetic modifications in shaping and in the presentation of baklava on a baking tray (called Sini). The Phyllo dough (called Youfka) which was traditionally layered and cut into squares or triangles, were given a "French touch" in late 18th century. As the Empire began opening itself to Western cultural (and culinary) influences, the General manager (Kahyabasi) of the Imperial Kitchen didn't miss the opportunity to hire Monsieur Guillaume, a former pastry chef of Marie Antoinette, who in exile at the Ottoman Turkish Palace after learning how to bake baklava, created the "dome" technique of cutting and folding of the baklava squares which was named "Baklava Francaise" (Frenk Baklavasi) after the nationality of its creator.

Answer 2

Baklava Origin

Answer 3

PlanetBakery.com
Featuring traditional baklava pastries.
www.baklava.com
Wikipedia: Baklava
Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry found in many cuisines of the Middle East, South ... 1999) argues that the word "baklava"...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baklava
Baklava , history , origin , recipes
... of the Americas, the exact origin of baklava is also something hard to put the ... traveling east to Mesopotamia soon...
www.kitchenproject.com/history/Baklava...

Answer 4

The history of baklava, like that of many other foods, is not well documented. Though it has been claimed by many groups, the best evidence is that it is ultimately of central Asian Turkic origin, but that its current form was developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapı Palace.

Various claims are made about the origins of baklava: that it is of Assyrian origin; that it dates to ancient Mesopotamia, and was mentioned in a Mesopotamian cookbook on walnut dishes; that al-Baghdadi describes it in his 13th-century cookbook; that it was a popular Byzantine dish; and so on. But Claudia Roden[1] and Andrew Dalby[2] find no evidence for it in Arab, Greek, or Byzantine sources before the Ottoman period.

Vryonis (1971) identified the ancient Greek gastris, kopte, kopton, or koptoplakous, mentioned in the Deipnosophistae, as baklava, and calls it a "Byzantine favorite." However, Perry (1994) shows that though gastris contained a filling of nuts and honey, it did not include any dough; instead, it involved a honey and ground sesame mixture similar to modern pasteli or halva .

Perry then assembles evidence to show that layered breads were created by Turks in Central Asia and argues that the "missing link" between the Central Asian folded or layered breads (which did not include nuts) and modern phyllo-based pastries like baklava is the Azerbaijani dish Baki pakhlavası, which involves layers of dough and nuts, but not thin phyllo dough, which probably was developed in the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace. Indeed, the sultan presented trays of baklava to the Janissaries every 15th of Ramadan in a ceremonial procession called the Baklava Alayı. (Wasti, 2005)

The oldest known recipe for a sort of proto-baklava is found in a Chinese cookbook written in 1330 under the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty under the name güllach.

Answer 5

Hi ,
I'm from Egypt. We also make and like baklava a lot,as well as all the Arab countries. But I believe that Baklava is Turkish, since we were under the ottoman (Turkish) rule for long time, and we took lots of things from each other, by the way we call it baklawa.

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awOnA

Yes! It IS Greek and Persian and Arabic! And Turkish, too! ALL of these countries lay claim to inventing this ancient dessert, and all of their claims have a tinge of legitimacy to them, but I'm afraid the true answer to this question is lost in the mists of history. There is some documentation that a similar dessert consiting of layers of dough baked with nuts and honey was made at least as far back as the 6th century BC in Assyria, in what is now Iraq/Turkey, but the roots of the dessert are probably even more ancient, probably going back as far as Ancient Egypt of 3000 BC. It is possible that the dessert developed from this ancient root independently in many different cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, but this is speculation.

Answer 7

i m from greece and because we make the best baklava it's of course greek!well the truth is that the recipe originates back at the times of the Byzantium empire.when the ottomans conquered Constantinoupoli at 1453 and then the whole empire they became familiar with baklava so you may also hear that it is a turkish recipe but it is not!

Answer 8

Make Over 200 Juicy, Mouth-Watering Paleo Recipes You've NEVER Seen or Tasted Before?

Answer 9

It's Greek.

Answer 10

greek