Where's my string dessert?!?

April 23, 2008 9:31 PM

Help me recreate (or buy) this amazing halvah-based dessert.

A roommate of mine (Assyrian Iraqi by extraction, which may make a difference) once brought home some halva his mom had bought or made that was like . . . well, we called it string dessert. It was like finely shredded, looked like shredded wheat, but melted in your mouth in a delicious sugar haze. You could smush the strings together if you wanted. It was definitely halva, but I've had trouble figuring out whether it was a special kind (is it just shredded halva? How do you recreate the candy-floss effect?) or finding a recipe that would help me reproduce it. We want string dessert! (The roommate is long gone, which is why I'm asking the hive mind.)

posted by liketitanic to food & drink (6 comments total)

Was it pismaniye? There's a good close-up of it here. The Gluttonist says it's also known as 'floss halvah'.
posted by iconomy at 9:40 PM on April 23, 2008

That's it EXACTLY. Thank you.
posted by liketitanic at 9:48 PM on April 23, 2008

You're welcome! Research: it's also known as Turkish fairy floss, floss halvah, Turkish cotton candy, pishmaniye, pismanie, pesmek, strand helva, flax helva and stretch helva. You can buy it here. I've just looked through a few forums where people are talking about it, and it seems it's really hard to make, although I didn't find an actual recipe, just people going on and on about how hard it is to make ;)
posted by iconomy at 9:52 PM on April 23, 2008

Very interesting, we have a sweet in India that looks exactly like that and I'd wager is made the same way. It's called soan papdi. Google it and you'll find lots of recipes. I've heard it's pretty tough to make at home though. Vendors used to sell it from big glass jars in my hometown. Amazing stuff.
posted by peacheater at 9:53 PM on April 23, 2008

Also known, apparently, as Persian fairy floss and pashmak. I am ordering some straightaway!
posted by liketitanic at 9:58 PM on April 23, 2008

It also sounds like Dragon Beard Candy, fwiw.
posted by Phire at 10:30 PM on May 2, 2008