Gaz

Gaz is a white sugar confection emblematic of Isfahan, Iran. Pistachios or almonds are set in a sugar paste combined with egg white, and it is both chewy and clean-biting. It is shaped into discs or bite-size pieces, and versions packed in wheat flour are also known. It is a confection close to nougat, and its name is also linked to a special sweet ingredient gathered in the mountains.

A mountain sweetener that gave the confection its name

The traditional sweet ingredient gaz-angobin is a manna obtained in areas such as the surroundings of Khansar in central Iran. Manna is a term for sweet substances gathered from the surfaces of plants and elsewhere, and they do not all come from the same plant or arise in the same way. For the gaz-angobin associated with gaz, the relationship between Astragalus, a low shrub of the legume family, and the tiny insects that live on it is important.

Gaz-angobin looks like sap oozing naturally from the plant, but it is actually a sweet substance excreted by insects that feed on the plant’s sap, which then adheres to the plant. A soft, thread-like substance produced by the larvae hardens as it dries and remains on the branches and leaves. Opinions were once divided over whether it came from the plant or from insects. Edward Frederick, who visited Iran in 1813, observed the sweet substance and small insects on the branches and believed that it was produced by insects.

To collect it, a tray is placed beneath the branches, the branches are tapped lightly, and the fallen grains are gathered and sieved to remove leaves and other debris. Harvesting takes place from late summer into autumn and varies with location and weather. Unlike pressing cultivated sugarcane, obtaining this sweetener depends on mountain areas where both the plants and the insects are present. Rain and strong winds during the harvest season also affect the yield. Frederick’s 19th-century record explains that in September it was collected every 3 days, and that collecting it too often exhausted the insects. It is an ingredient gathered in step with the state of living things and the seasons, and confectioners can use it only because of the work of the people who gather the sweetener in the mountains.

From a gathered ingredient to a white confection

Gaz-angobin cannot be used in confectionery as it falls from the branches. It goes through a process of dissolving it in water and heating it to remove impurities. In one example of the traditional method, egg white is added to the strained liquid and stirred in, the liquid is strained again, and sugar is added before it is heated until it becomes a paste. Shelled pistachios or almonds are then mixed in, and the mixture is shaped into flat rounds or small pieces and cooled.

Nut pieces and cross-sections are visible in the white paste. Compared with kaju katli, in which ground cashews are kneaded with sugar, gaz is a confection in which the white sugar paste and the nuts remain as separate elements. The step of adding egg white and stirring it in also distinguishes it from brittle, in which nuts are simply bound with sugar.

Packaging in which the discs are buried in wheat flour and boxed has been used as a way to limit the effects of humidity and to keep the pieces from sticking together. Some products are individually wrapped, and shapes and packaging vary by artisan and manufacturer.

Natural ingredients and modern production

The supply of natural gaz-angobin is limited. Some of today’s gaz uses sugar or glucose syrup, and not all products contain the same amount of natural manna. While the composition of a white paste of egg white, nuts and sugar is maintained, the sources of sugar differ.

A city specialty, carried to other towns and to visitors

Local manufacturers explain that Isfahan’s gaz dates back to the Safavid period. This origin story is also recorded in the 2018 description of the appellation of origin that Iran filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Meanwhile, Boldaji, in neighboring Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, has a local account that gaz came about when nuts and other ingredients were added to a halva sold at markets during the Qajar period. Isfahan, as the city known for the specialty, and the producing area close to the mountain ingredient each hold their own memories of making the confection.

The 19th-century physician Jakob Eduard Polak, in a book published in 1865, described a flat confection made from manna and combined with almonds, pistachios and cardamom. He also wrote that it was dusted with flour and willow catkins and sent to various parts of the country. His account preserves a picture of the confection at the time, transported together with flour and plant catkins.

By the early 20th century, gaz was also being sold in towns away from where it was produced. In U. Malcolm’s observations, published in 1911, flat disc-shaped gaz sent from Isfahan was displayed in confectionery shops in Yazd. Clara Rice’s account, published in 1923, also describes discs packed in boxes with flour between them. A confection made from an ingredient gathered in the mountains was carried to other towns as a city specialty.

Gaz also played a part in hospitality at home. In the example of an Armenian household recorded by Rice, a specialist confectioner was sometimes called to the house to make it. When guests were received during festive periods, after the greetings, the host or hostess would strike one disc against another and hand out the broken pieces. There were also finer versions made as small discs, one per person. The gesture of breaking a hard disc in front of guests conveys a way of eating this confection that differs from the bite-size wrapped pieces made in factories.

Glossary