Sajough Sweet of Maragheh

Sojough is one of the most famous local Sweets of Maragheh, which is very delicious and is taken as a souvenir by many tourists who visit Maragheh and other cities of East Azarbaijan province of Iran.

Maragheh is one of the main centres of grape production, making grape syrup— the main ingredient of this sweet—abundantly available. The other ingredients, such as almonds, walnuts, or apricot kernels, which are used in making Sojough, are among the products of this region. Thus, Sojough can be described as a completely Maragheh product! Although similar products are made in countries like Turkey, Sojough from Maragheh tastes different. This is because it uses completely local and natural ingredients with high nutritional value.

Maragheh people consume Sojough in their celebrations, especially during Nowruz Eid. The production of this sweet usually starts around November, but the main selling time is near Nowruz, i.e. March.

Ingredients (the quantity of which can be increased or reduced)

Walnuts: 15

Water and grape syrup: one cup each

Starch: half a cup

Rose water: one-third of a cup

Vanilla: half a teaspoon

Sugar: three tablespoons

Cardamom powder: half a teaspoon

Liquid oil: two tablespoons

Saffron: as per taste

Note:

You can also use gelatin in your ingredients. Using this material can give a flexible state to your sweets.

You will need a thread and a needle to bake this sweet!

Recipe

Divide the kernels of the walnuts into four parts and soak them in lukewarm water. After an hour, when the walnuts are soft, sew the walnuts together with the help of thread and needle so that they are placed behind each other like the beads of a tasbih. The walnut pieces must stick together firmly. At the end, take a little extra string so you can use it to hang the walnuts.

It is now time to mix the ingredients. First, pour the starch into cold water and stir well until the starch dissolves. Pass the solution through a sieve and then add sugar, rose water, vanilla, gelatin, cardamom powder, and grape syrup and continue stirring until the mixture is completely uniform. When the mixture is uniform, put it on low heat and stir it continuously until it gets thick, and then add oil and saffron to it. Now you can remove the container from the stove and stir the ingredients a little more to reduce the heat in them. In order to make Sojough better, you can pour the mixed ingredients into a deep container after removing them from the stove, because in the next step, you have to hang the walnuts, which you have strung on the thread, inside the ingredients. When the walnuts have absorbed the material well, take the string out and hang it. You can repeat this operation once more so that the material sticks to the walnuts better.

For Sojough to be fully prepared, you should give it three to five days to dry well. If you like, you can roll the Sojough in pistachio powder, coconut powder, or sesame after 24 hours to make it more delicious and beautiful.

Apart from walnuts, you can also use pistachios, almonds, or sweet apricots to make Sojough, although it is more common to make it with walnuts.

Sojough is a delicious sweet that can be eaten alone or with a variety of hot drinks such as tea.