Pashmak, Pismaniye

[jasper]

I am trying to get any good recipes and techniques for making pismaniye. Anyones help will be appreciated.

[sazji]

I'm usually one to try to make all sorts of things not normally made at home, but this one doesn't tempt me. Flour is browned in butter, and put in the center of a very wide round metal griddle that is heated from underneath. The syrup is boiled to the right stage, a bit of lemon juice is added, and it is then dumped onto the oiled metal counter with the pile of flour in the middle, in a big circle. It's then pulled like taffy, but by many hands at once, repeatedly across the flour, so that it picks it up and instead of sticking together again, separates into finer and finer strands with the pulling. The heat under the griddle must be just right, if it's too hot it burns, if it's not hot enough it all just falls apart into pieces instead of pulling out into filaments.

If you don't know, Pismaniye comes from the word "pisman" (regreful) though the words origins are probably different. They say it's called pismaniye because "you are pisman if you don't eat it, and if you do as well." Another explanation is that it takes such energy (very strong arms) and hassle to make it. It's a specialty of Izmit, which seems a bit funny as it needs to be kept very dry otherwise it collapses...and yet there is hardly a more humid city in Turkey than Izmit...

You can get it from www.tasteofturkey.com

[anzu]

There is an Indian sweet called patisa (also called soan papdi or soan halva) that uses slightly different ingredients to pismaniye, but yields a sweet with a very similar final taste, texture, and appearance.

Given that the major difference between the two is in types of flour (the Indian one contains gramflour/besan/chickpea flour) and flavoring, my guess would be that probably the proportions and instructions for the Indian recipe could be applied to making pismaniye.

Caveat here: I've never made patisa. In fact, I don't know anyone who's ever made it at home. However, there are quite a lot of recipes available for it floating around. One example is here.

[Sentiamo]

OK ....Pashmak is Iranian/Persian Fairy Floss for anyone who doesn't know.

I can also tell you that it was only a couple of years ago that I discovered it but since then, creating it at home has been my aim. To the point that I actually went out and bought a home Fairy Floss maker.

Yessssssss, hubster still wont let me forget that purchase, ostensibly for making floss for grandkids. Funny how those kids are never about when Im in the mood for flossing.

Anyways.....has anyone ever made this gorgeous stuff at home? I have done heaps of web searches and come up with very little. The flavours I have eaten are sesame, rose and pistachio and all have been imported to stores here in New Zealand, from Iran.

I think ?Foodbabe mentioned a chocolate with a floss kind of centre in Ling and Henry's recent NY Blog ( and that was such a great read!!) so maybe that was the same kinda floss. The difference between the Iranian stuff and the carnival kind is immense. The Iranian floss is almost like shanks of spun wool, not the fragile pitiable threads of the regular kind. Some research has shown that fat is added to a mix for the Iranian floss and I would say that would explain the ' fatty' taste on my tongue when consuming it.

Anyone with anything to add will be my friend. I NEED to able to make this.

BTW...a link to a picture of the glorious sugar threads

http://www.ballaratwineries.com/rose_and_turkish_delight.htm

[Sentiamo]

I am bumping this entry of mine ( it sure aint a thread!!) as I am SO wanting more info on Pashmak if possible.

Anyone??

At all?

[jumanggy]

I've never heard of Pashmak before. If anyone knows how to work it, outside of a candy expert in New Zealand (they'd probably be very happy to teach you how to work the machine and what recipe to use), here would probably be the best place to look! Good luck!

[Sentiamo]

Thanks for your replies, the Turkish floss is not at all like the Iranian unfortunately.

I have discovered that there is a little mutton fat in the latter variety and that it is handspun.

Ahhhh, its a safe bet I WONT be experimenting further.

The fat does explain that certain ' feel' in the mouth though, and if anyone has a chance to try pashmak I urge you to go for it. A real treat!

[ruthie jewell]

Sentiamo, see if you can navigate this site and maybe find a number to call and ask about recipes. good luck and post any news. Looks like fun.

http://myfavouriteplum.blogspot.com/2005/1...airy-floss.html

[sugarseattle]

now you've gotten me totally interested. as somebody who loves cotton candy and purchased one of those home "spun" cotton candy makers, this pashmak sounds very intriguing. I have a few questions...

- is pashmak hand-spun, or can you get a special maker to make it, or can you use a cotton candy machine?

- mutton fat is in which version?

[Snadra]

Bought some pashmak/persian fairy floss today in rose and pistachio flavours. I got it from David Jones Food Hall here in Sydney, but the brand, Pariya is available online here and in the US & Europe.

I've never tried it before, but it looks so pretty! My plan is to use it as tasty decorative frippery for the rhubarb & lime semifreddo dessert I am doing for a family lunch on Boxing Day, but there will be leftovers. The package suggests layering it with fresh berries in a glass, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas.

By the way, the ingredients in the pistachio flavour are sugar, sesame, flour, vegetable oil, pistachio oil, food acid & colour, and the rose flavour has rose extract replacing the pistachio oil.

[v. gautam]

Pishmaniye is closer to an Indian sweet called SOHAN PAPRI/soan papdi. This is a fairly specialized process left to confectioners. If you watch from 4:18 onwards in the video clip below you will see why:

Unlike the sugar floss hand-spun on streetcorners by nimble fingers in various Chinatowns in the USA, Pishmaniye/soan papdi is not just sugar.

There are 2 components. One, a sugar + a glucose syrup in known proportions is acidified or brought to a pH level best known to the professionals and cooked to a particular stage, known as "2 wires". In India,they measure syrup temperature or viscosity by putting a drop on the thumb and pulling the syrup between the index finger & thumb and seeing how it behaves. Also by dropping syrup from a spoon!

It is let to cool to a certain temperature where it can be worked on a round oiled tray.

This is where the Turkish & Iranians have magnificent pishmaniye machines, huge spidery arms mechanically spinning around over arrays of beautiful stainless steel dishes nearly 2 meters in diameter. Lines of them, say 6 + 6. Everything wonderfully automated where the poor Indians don plastic sanitary overgarments and do everything by hand in stifling heat, since the whole 'dough' has to kept quite warm. When I see the Indians struggling, as I have since childhood, and see the gleaming Turkish factories, I am just struck dumb with wonder!

Now comes what makes Pishmaniye/soan papdi different from mere sugar floss. In India, a base of chickpea flour cooked in ghee & flavored with green cardamom is incorporated in the sugar lump, and then stretched by hand like throwing noodles, but in a slightly different way. Pistachios are added as garnish to the finished product.

Earlier, malt from germinating wheat [malt=sohan]was a favorite, but today, chickpea flour is the favored base in India.

In Turkey and Iran the DIFFERENT base flours and the fats in which they are cooked, and then the flavoring & garnish chosen, define the type & quality of the pishmaniye.

Mutton fat is not just any old sheep fat: it is specifically the tail fat of the DUMBA, the fat-tailed sheep breeds of Iran. Karakul, found in the USA, is a somewhat fat-tailed breed, but has not been selected here for that feature. The quality of that fat from pastured sheep, when carefully rendered, is like lard of exceptional quality from kidney suet or caul fat.

MESU is a cousin of SOAN PAPDI that also demands extreme care & skill but yet may be adapted to the home kitchen.

Interested folks may google chef Saadat Siddiqui + Afzal Nizami + MESU and find the relevant instructions & video. They would need someone fluent in Hindi/Urdu to translate for them, and a source of glucose syrup from a bakery supply. This thick viscous material is sold by that name in the subcontinent but what it actually is, I cannot say. It might even be fructose syrup, misnamed "glucose" by the trade there!!

HALDIRAM'S is an excellent brand with mechanized production facilities of soan papdi, which they sell in sealed tins available in the USA & elsewhere by mail order and wherever Indian groceries are sold. One might try & taste this product and expand one's pishmaniye universe.

Edited December 26, 2010 by v. gautam (log)