Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Mahlab along with all the Mahlab containing recipes presented on this site, with 4 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Mahlab recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Mahlab as a major wild food ingredient.

Mahlab (also Mahleb, Mahleb or Mahlepi) is an aromatic spice derived from the pulverized pits of the black cherry Prunus mahaleb. It has been used for centuries in the Middle East and the surrounding areas (especially in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Iran and Greece) as a sweet/sour, nutty addition to breads, cheese, cookies and biscuits.



Mahleb is used in Greece, where it is known as 'Mahlepi' for holiday cakes such as tsoureki and similar egg-rich yeast cakes and biscuits. In the Middle East and Anatolia it is also associated with Ramadan sweets, including 'Tsourek', "Ka'kat" and "Maamoul." It is also the flavouring of the traditional Armenian holiday cake, "Choereg." In Cyprus, it is used in a special Easter cheese pie or cheese cake on Cyprus called 'flaounes' (φλαούνες). Recent interest in Mediterranean cooking has increased the profile of this spice.