Bastani Sonnati

Commercialized in Tehran in the late 1920s by Akbar Mashti (born Akbar Jafari Malayeri, 1868), who opened Iran's first ice cream shop early in the Reza Shah era; the Akbar Mashti shop, which still operates near the Grand Bazaar today. He adapted older Persian frozen-cream traditions (which themselves used yakhchal ice-pits going back two millennia) into a modern stabilized format using salep — orchid-tuber starch. Salep is now scarce due to wild orchid overharvesting, so most modern bastani uses sahlab substitute or cornstarch.

Created in 1947 by Akbar Mashti at his Tehran shop near the Grand Bazaar — still operating today. He stabilized older Persian frozen-cream traditions (the yakhchal ice-pit lineage runs back two millennia) using salep, an orchid-tuber polysaccharide. Salep is what gives the elastic mastic-pull texture. Wild orchid overharvesting now means most modern bastani uses sahlab substitute or cornstarch.

A pale yellow ice cream stretched almost chewy — saffron threads visible, frozen pistachio slivers throughout, and shards of frozen clotted cream (sarshir) cracking between the teeth. Rosewater rides under the saffron. The texture is the surprise: not creamy-smooth like Italian gelato, but elastic, almost taffy-like at first bite, from a starch base.

Salep is what gives the elastic, mastic-like pull — it's a polysaccharide from wild orchid tubers, ground to powder, which forms long chains in the cream that resist crystallization. This is why bastani doesn't shard like ordinary ice cream; it stretches. Sarshir goes in as separate frozen flakes, not blended, so the contrast in fat content stays sharp on the tongue.