Parvarda

Medium·10 min

Small pillow-shaped caramels made from little more than sugar, flour and a squeeze of lemon. The hot caramel is pulled and folded until it turns pale and satiny, then cut into bite-sized cushions dusted in flour. Sweet with a gentle sour edge, it is the classic candy of the Uzbek bazaar.

Sugar

Lemon Juice

Flour

Parvarda belongs to the great tradition of Central Asian pulled sugar that travelers along the Silk Road would have known, sold from open trays at every bazaar from Tashkent to Bukhara. The craft lies entirely in the hands: confectioners stretch the cooling caramel over a hook again and again, aerating it until it lightens, a skill passed down through generations of bazaar sweet-makers. A pinch of lemon keeps it from crystallizing and gives the candy its signature tang.

Fresh from the pan it's soft and almost melting, dissolving into buttery sweetness on the tongue. Left to sit, it firms into a chewy, taffy-like caramel with a clean lemon tartness that keeps it from cloying. The flour coating gives a soft, powdery first touch before the sweetness blooms.

Repeatedly pulling the caramel incorporates countless tiny air pockets, which scatter light to turn it from amber to pale and change the texture from hard to chewy. The acid from the lemon inverts some of the sucrose, preventing large crystals from forming so the candy stays smooth.

Variations

Flavored with mint, ginger, or anise; tinted with saffron; sometimes folded with crushed nuts

On the Palate

Where Parvarda sits in the Uzbek flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 8

500 gSugar

1 tbspLemon Juice

for dustingFlour

How it's made

8 steps · 10 min

1
5 min
Combine sugar, water and a squeeze of lemon juice in a heavy pan and stir to dissolve.
2
15 min
Boil without stirring until the syrup reaches a firm, deep caramel stage.
Watch out
Boil without stirring to a deep amber, firm-crack stage — stir it and the sugar crystallizes grainy, and pull it before it goes past amber into burnt.
3
5 min
Pour the hot caramel onto an oiled, flour-dusted surface or marble slab to cool at the edges.
4
5 min
As soon as it is cool enough to handle, gather it and begin pulling and folding repeatedly.
Watch out
Start pulling the moment it is cool enough to touch — wait too long and it sets too stiff to work.
5
10 min
Stretch over an oiled hook or between hands until the caramel turns pale, glossy and ropelike.
Watch out
Keep folding and stretching until the amber turns pale, glossy and ropelike — that lightening is the air you have worked in, and it is what makes it chewy not hard.
6
5 min
Roll the mass into long thin ropes and dust generously with flour.
7
5 min
Snip the ropes into small pillow-shaped pieces with oiled scissors.
8
30 min
Toss the candies in more flour and let them firm up before storing.