{"id":8322,"date":"2026-10-19T15:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8322"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:44","slug":"kunafa","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/kunafa\/","title":{"rendered":"Knafeh (Including K\u00fcnefe)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Knafeh is a sweet in which baked dough is soaked in syrup and combined with cheese, milk cream or nuts. It is found across West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean. The dough on the surface may be fine and thread-like or made of fine crumbs. In some versions dairy is baked together with the dough, in others it is sandwiched in afterward, and some use no cheese at all. Turkish k\u00fcnefe is a close relative, and in Antakya the local specialty is made by layering thread-like dough with a dedicated cheese and baking it on both sides.<\/p>\n

Antakya\u2019s Thread-Like Dough and the Fine Crumb Dough of Na\u2019ameh<\/h2>\n

Antakya\u2019s kaday\u0131f is made by pouring a dough of flour and water, soft enough to flow, onto a hot metal plate in fine threads, drying it briefly and gathering it up. It differs both from the thin, sheet-like pastry of baklava<\/a> and from dried noodles that look similar. When it is mixed with butter and baked, the fine strands form crisp, stacked layers, and fat and syrup seep into the gaps between the threads.<\/p>\n

In a shallow round pan, a fresh dedicated cheese is sandwiched between two layers of kaday\u0131f, and the pastry is turned over so that both top and bottom are baked. The thread-like dough encloses the cheese from above and below, giving both sides a toasty golden color and a crisp texture. The sweetness comes from the syrup added after baking. The hot cheese stretches into strings, and the outer dough absorbs the syrup. Even if the dedicated cheese is replaced with the same amount of aged hard cheese, the saltiness, moisture and melting will not be the same.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the na\u2019ameh that Fufu\u2019s Kitchen inherited from the author\u2019s mother is made by baking flour, fine semolina and other ingredients at a low temperature without browning, drying the result and then crumbling it. The crumbs are pressed firmly into a ghee-brushed pan, layered with drained Arabic cheese and mozzarella, baked and inverted onto a plate. Because the fine crumb dough ends up on top and the melted cheese on the bottom, both the way the crumbs are made and the way the layers are stacked differ from the Antakya method of enclosing the cheese with threads above and below.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
Nablus-style knafeh served in Nazareth (August 1, 2019). A plate with pistachios scattered over the fine-textured surface. Photo: PeleYoetz \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Original-size image obtained. No content alteration or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Desalting Nabulsi Cheese<\/h2>\n

Palestinian food writer Dima Al-Sharif explains Nablus knafeh in terms of how white Nabulsi cheese, preserved in brine, is used. The salt is removed to a level suited to the sweet, and how much to leave is a matter of the artisan\u2019s judgment. Another of her published recipes (ingredient proportions and method) also includes boiling the cheese in fresh water and then soaking it in water. To \u201csweeten\u201d the cheese can therefore mean not mixing in sugar but removing the salt used to preserve it.<\/p>\n

Mozzarella can provide a similar stretch, but it does not reproduce the flavor of Nabulsi. Even so, some home versions of na\u2019ameh combine available cheeses, and both the ingredients of the place of origin and home substitutions exist as methods in their own right.<\/p>\n

For home cooks in Japan, k\u00fcnefe made by sandwiching mozzarella between thread-like kadaif and baking it in an ovenproof dish has also been introduced. In Hattori Cooking\u2019s published example, kadaif coated with melted butter and vegetable oil is laid on the bottom and top, and once it has baked firm it is turned over so that both sides brown. Lemon juice and zest are added to the finishing syrup. Alongside the methods that use desalted Nabulsi or Antakya\u2019s dedicated cheese, it is one example assembled with available ingredients and an oven.<\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s Knafeh Centers on Nuts and Spices<\/h2>\n

The knafeh \u2018arabiyya recorded by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt during fieldwork in Gaza in 2011 layers crumbs of toasted semolina dough with walnuts, is scented with cinnamon and nutmeg, and is soaked in warm syrup. It was described as a celebratory sweet more often made by sweet shops than at home. At celebrations, it was a sweet enjoyed for the crunch of nuts and the aroma of spices in place of the stretch of cheese.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the flavor and stretch of Nablus cheese, this knafeh \u2018arabiyya handed down in Gaza centers on the dense crunch of nuts and on spices. It is not a substitute that leaves out cheese, but a distinctive sweet handed down in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Sandwiching Milk Cream Between Baked Thread-Like Dough<\/h2>\n

In Lebanon, one method for osmalieh is to bake two layers of thread-like dough separately and sandwich cream between them afterward. In the published recipe from chef Hussien Dekmak\u2019s cookbook, the dough is brushed with oil, each layer is baked separately until golden, and the excess oil is drained off.<\/p>\n

For the filling, fresh cream is cooked with strips of toast with the crusts removed, scented with rose water and orange blossom water, and cooled. Using bread to thicken the cream is also a feature of this recipe. The cream is spread on one baked layer, the other layer is placed on top, and it is finished with syrup and pistachios. Compared with methods in which cheese is baked together with the dough and melted, both the step of heating the dairy and the point at which it is combined with the dough are different.<\/p>\n

\n\"Square\n
Thread-dough knafeh sandwiching milk cream (March 21, 2025). The short threads covering the top and the white filling are visible in the cut surface. The location is not stated in the source description. Photo: \u767d\u3068\u8d64\u8336 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alteration or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Differences Passed Down in Families and Breakfast in Lebanon<\/h2>\n

The knafeh at his grandfather\u2019s house, as described by Bethlehem chef Fadi Kattan, used pine nuts, cinnamon and orange blossom syrup, and contained no cheese. His parents\u2019 house made the Nablus-style version with cheese, and on celebrations and days with guests the family gathered around a whole pan. Even within one family, different forms have been handed down.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon, there is another occasion for eating it. Food writer Maureen Abood describes the custom of tucking the cheese version into the pocket of ka\u2019ak, a sesame-topped bread, and eating it for breakfast. In the recipe handed down in her family as well, the thread layer and cheese are baked, turned over and finished with syrup. Besides being shared from a large platter as a celebratory sweet, it is also eaten tucked into bread as a morning meal.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
Knafeh, sweets and drinks on a cafe table in Jaffa (July 14, 2022). The large round baking pan in the center holds the knafeh. Photo: Artem.G \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alteration or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Multiple Legends Linked to the Meals of Caliphs<\/h2>\n

According to a legend, before dawn during the month of fasting, a physician recommended a filling sweet to a ruler who complained of hunger. In one version introduced by Egyptian folklorist Shaimaa al-Saidi, it was a sweet for Mu\u2019awiya in Syria. Another version names the Umayyad ruler Sulayman, and in Egypt it is told as the sweet with which the Fatimid ruler al-Mu\u2019izz was welcomed at the breaking of the fast when he entered Cairo. The stories differ from legend to legend as to which ruler it was made for and when it was meant to be eaten.<\/p>\n

A Medieval Name and the Later Thread-Like Dough and Cheese Filling<\/h2>\n

Arab culinary historian Daniel Newman links the name to the Coptic kenefiten<\/em>, which referred to bread or cakes. The 13th- to 15th-century cookbooks from Syria, Egypt and al-Andalus that he cites contain several recipes, but these involved frying thin flatbreads and rolling or cutting them. Although the name was the same, they were not today\u2019s two layers of fine threads and cheese.<\/p>\n

In a sweet he reconstructed from a 15th-century Egyptian book, the dough is cut thin like noodles, cooked with sesame oil, sugar and honey, and combined with saffron-colored almonds or pistachios, rose water and other ingredients. Rather than layering dairy, it was a sweet based mainly on fat, syrup and nuts. Making the dough thin by cutting it is also different from the present-day technique of pouring soft dough into fine threads.<\/p>\n

The early record of a cheese-filled version that Newman cites in an interview is a cookbook published in Beirut in 1885. There is a gap in time between the medieval name and the cheese-filled method that appears later. The medieval name, the thread-like dough and the cheese filling each appear in the sources at different times.<\/p>\n

The Sweets Culture of Nablus and Its Adaptation in Dubai Chocolate<\/h2>\n

In Nablus, cutting and sharing a pan of hot cheese and syrup is tied to the city\u2019s markets and to the reception of guests. The description of the old city that Palestine placed on its Tentative List for World Heritage also counts sweet-making, especially Nabulsi knafeh, as part of the city\u2019s living culture. Sweet-making is presented as part of the culture of an old city for which World Heritage nomination is being sought.<\/p>\n

In recent years, products that incorporate the crispness of baked kaday\u0131f into a pistachio layer inside chocolate have also spread. The chocolate bar made by the Dubai shop Fix Dessert Chocolatier differs in both ingredients and way of eating from a pan of hot cheese-filled knafeh. Bethlehem chef Kattan, too, regards such products as separate sweets derived from knafeh. While there is a custom of sharing knafeh baked in town, separate sweets that take on the texture of kaday\u0131f are also seen as connected to this name.<\/p>\n

Antakya K\u00fcnefesi, Protected by a Geographical Indication<\/h2>\n

Antakya k\u00fcnefesi was registered for EU geographical indication protection in 2023. The indication applies to a specific product name with regional ingredients and a method: thread-like dough, a dedicated cheese, butter and syrup. The registration covers this Hatay specialty made with hot cheese, while other regions have handed down knafeh with different shapes, doughs and fillings.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbMu\u2019awiya, Sulayman, al-Mu\u2019izz<\/strong>: Rulers from different dynasties and periods. They appear as the central figures in several legends about the origin of knafeh.\n\u30fbShaimaa al-Saidi: A researcher at Egypt\u2019s Folk Traditions Atlas Center. Introduced several origin stories in an interview.\n\u30fbHussien Dekmak: A chef and author specializing in Lebanese cuisine. Published a method for osmalieh.\n\u30fbOsmalieh: A sweet from Lebanon and elsewhere that combines thread-like dough with milk cream.\n\u30fbKaday\u0131f: A pastry ingredient made by pouring a flour-and-water dough into fine threads and heating it. The name also refers to sweets made with it.\n\u30fbAntakya: A city in Hatay Province in southern Turkey, corresponding to historic Antioch.\n\u30fbGeographical indication: A system that protects the names of products whose quality or reputation is linked to their place of origin.\n\u30fbSemolina: Wheat ground into relatively coarse grains. Some recipes use a finely ground type.\n\u30fbGhee: A fat obtained by removing water and milk solids from butter.\n\u30fbBethlehem and Nablus: Both are Palestinian cities.\n\u30fbFadi Kattan: A chef from Bethlehem who introduces Palestinian home cooking.\n\u30fbDaniel Newman: A scholar who studies Arabic and the history of Arab cuisine.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbThe 2011 fieldwork in Gaza shows the methods and eating occasions of that time and does not represent the current range at every shop. The 1885 Beirut record of a cheese-filled version cited by Newman is an early source he confirmed; it is not asserted to be the world\u2019s first instance, including unpublished manuscripts.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbUNESCO World Heritage Centre, \u201cThe Historic City of Nablus and its environs\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Description of the Tentative List entry submitted by Palestine. Counts the markets and sweet-making, especially Nabulsi knafeh, as part of the city\u2019s living culture. Not a decision to inscribe it on the World Heritage List.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u30fbAntakya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, \u201cAntakya K\u00fcnefesi\u201d product specification<\/a> \u2014 Production of the thread-like dough, unsalted butter, the dedicated cheese, heating on both sides and hot syrup after baking.\n\u30fbFufu\u2019s Kitchen, \u201cKnafeh \/ Kunafa\u201d printable recipe<\/a> \u2014 A recipe inherited from the author\u2019s mother; fine crumb dough dried at a low temperature and then ground; the process of pressing it firm, layering cheese and inverting.\n\u30fbClaire Turrell \/ Smithsonian Magazine, \u201cThe TikTok-Famous Dubai Chocolate\u2026,\u201d April 4, 2025<\/a> \u2014 Kattan\u2019s recollection of the two forms in his family; Newman\u2019s commentary on the history of cookbooks.\n\u30fbEU Implementing Regulation 2023\/562<\/a> \u2014 The 2023 PGI registration of Antakya K\u00fcnefesi.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \u30fbDaniel Newman, \u201cMedieval Egyptian Kunafa\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The etymological link with Coptic; reconstruction of a 15th-century recipe with thinly cut flatbread, sesame oil, syrup and nuts.<\/p><\/li>

  5. \u30fbFrying Pan Adventures, \u201cKunafa: Who Made it First?\u201d published conversation transcript<\/a> \u2014 Al-Sharif on the legend of the hungry caliph, the adjustment of salt in Nabulsi cheese and regional differences.<\/p><\/li>

  6. \u30fbLaila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt, \u201cGaza\u2019s Food Heritage,\u201d 2011<\/a> \u2014 Layers of walnuts and toasted semolina; cinnamon and nutmeg; its role as a celebratory sweet and its association with sweet shops.<\/p><\/li>

  7. \u30fbDima Al-Sharif, \u201cAtayef Buffet\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Nabulsi is a cheese also used in knafeh, and desalting it is described as \u201csweeten.\u201d<\/p><\/li>

  8. \u30fbMaureen Abood, \u201cLebanese Knafeh\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The Lebanese way of eating it for breakfast tucked into sesame-topped ka\u2019ak.<\/p><\/li>

  9. \n

    DPA interview with a researcher, \u0627\u0644\u0643\u0646\u0627\u0641\u0629 \u0634\u0627\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0623\u0645 \u0645\u0635\u0631\u064a\u0629\u061f \u0648\u0644\u0645\u0627\u0630\u0627 \u0627\u0631\u062a\u0628\u0637\u062a \u0628\u0627\u0633\u0645 \u0645\u0639\u0627\u0648\u064a\u0629\u061f<\/a> \u2014 The figures and settings of the differing origin stories about Muawiya\/Sulayman\/Muizz, as told by the folklorist in person. A present-day account of folklore, not proof of menus or chronicles from the dynastic period. Used only for the details of the stories and as competing accounts<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Hussien Dekmak, Osmalieh Vermicelli Dessert (authorized excerpt from The Lebanese Cookbook)<\/a> \u2014 Baking two layers of dough separately and sandwiching cooled milk cream between them; using toast to bind the cream. One specific recipe by one chef; not used to define all osmalieh as containing bread or as oven-baked<\/p>\n<\/li>

  11. Editorial Note (Japanese Re-edit)<\/h3><\/li>

  12. Origins linked to caliphs and others are treated as legends. They are not contemporary records showing when today\u2019s cheese-filled knafeh emerged. The old city of Nablus is on the World Heritage Tentative List; this does not mean that knafeh itself is inscribed as World Heritage.<\/p><\/li>

  13. Hattori Cooking, \u201cSeasonal Recipes for September: K\u00fcnefe,\u201d September 8, 2023<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients and all six steps read in full. An example using an oven and mozzarella, with fats and lemon. It does not limit knafeh as a whole to cheese-filled versions, and the regional differences in the existing text are retained.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Knafeh is a syrup-soaked sweet found across a wide area of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. Some versions use thread-like dough, some use finely broken dough, and some use semolina. Both the outer layer and the filling change from place to place, so no single example can tell the whole story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7226,"menu_order":93,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Kunafa \/ K\u00fcnefe","subtitle":"Fine dough, melting cheese and a warm syrup-soaked sweet","topics":"Kadaif-style dough \/ Cheese \/ Syrup \/ Differences in regional names","country":"Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cheese","cream","butter"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8322","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8321,8272,8273,8280,8281,8282,8290,8310]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t