{"id":8535,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8535"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:51:06","slug":"navat","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/navat\/","title":{"rendered":"Navat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Navat is crystallized sugar grown into large crystals from a concentrated sugar syrup. In Uzbekistan it is also called novvot, and like Iran\u2019s nab\u0101t (\u0646\u0628\u0627\u062a), it is enjoyed as a sweet served with tea. It comes nearly clear, pale yellow or amber, and is characterized by many crystals clustered along a string core. It forms differently from lumps made by pressing fine sugar together.<\/p>\n

The string is not there to bind the sugar<\/h2>\n

To make it, sugar is first dissolved in water and heated into a concentrated syrup. The syrup is poured into a container strung with string and left undisturbed; sugar crystals form around the string and grow larger over time. Once they have grown sufficiently, the remaining syrup is drained off, and the string with its crystals is taken out and dried. The string is not there to join the finished confection together afterward; it is part of the process of growing the crystals.<\/p>\n

What makes this change possible is supersaturation. Warm liquid can hold a large amount of dissolved sugar, but as the concentrated syrup cools, the amount of sugar exceeds what can remain dissolved. The excess sugar appears as a solid and is incorporated onto the surfaces of crystals already present. Making navat is not a matter of boiling syrup in a pot until it hardens. It is a matter of growing dissolved sugar back into crystals.<\/p>\n

Uzbek technique includes examples of stretching several parallel rows of string and leaving the syrup to stand for about three days. Meanwhile, a study of crystallized-sugar production carried out in Iran includes an experiment in which crystallization took 16 hours under controlled temperature. The time varies with the concentration of the syrup, the container and how the temperature is lowered. The key to the method lies less in the three-day period itself than in avoiding stirring that would break up the crystals and maintaining the conditions for them to grow.<\/p>\n

Grape syrup and white sugar crystals<\/h2>\n

Uzbek navat is known to be made with added grape juice, but there are also methods based on sugar and water. Describing navat as \u201ca confection made simply by boiling down grapes\u201d erases this difference. In methods using sugar and water, the main crystals are sucrose, also known as saccharose. The sugar composition when juice is added cannot be uniformly determined from the same experimental results. Juice and flavorings create differences in color and flavor, separately from the sugar that forms the crystals.<\/p>\n

In Iran, nabat with saffron added is well known. Besides crystals attached to string, there is also a form in which the crystals are grown on a stick. The core on which the crystals form also affects whether the piece is easy to put into tea once taken out. Compared with parvarda<\/a>, which is stretched until it turns white, navat is a confection that shows the outlines of its large crystals and their translucent color just as they are.<\/p>\n

\n\"Navat\n
Navat sold at Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent (August 25, 2025). The crystals range in color from nearly clear to yellowish brown. Photo: ElenaLitera \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Tea and local sugar making<\/h2>\n

Navat is eaten by dissolving a piece in tea or by holding it in the mouth like a candy. At markets it is sold alongside dried fruit and other sugar confections, and people buy it for tea time. Tajikistan\u2019s cultural inventory lists nabot as a confectionery craft that continues in Sughd and the Hisor Valley. It records two forms: tooth-like crystals attached to string, and lumps formed on the bottom of the pot. Where the sugar crystallizes and how it is taken out also create differences in the finished shape.<\/p>\n

In Iran, too, nabat was a sugar product made locally, distinct from simply using imported sugar as it was. In Persia around 1890, locally made nabat was recorded alongside lump refined sugar and granulated sugar imported from Marseille and Russia. What is recorded here is not sugar manufacturing that extracts sugar from sugarcane, but the local work of processing sugar into large crystallized sugar.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The sequence of preparing the syrup and then growing crystals around the string. Process diagram created by Sweetlore. The number and size of the crystals are shown conceptually.<\/p>\n

\n\"Amber-colored\n
Crystallized sugar on sale at Siyob Bazaar in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (September 14, 2014). Large crystals cluster together, translucent and amber. Photo: Ji-Elle \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No additional processing for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n
\n\"A\n
A person selling navat at Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent (August 25, 2025). Large crystals are lined up at the stall. Photo: ElenaLitera \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Supersaturation<\/strong>: A state in which a substance is dissolved in a liquid beyond the amount that can normally remain dissolved at a given temperature. It is the condition under which crystals grow.<\/p>

Sucrose<\/strong>: The main component of sugar. Also called saccharose, it forms the large crystals of navat.<\/p>

Saffron<\/strong>: A spice made from the dried stigmas of a flower. It is used for the aroma and yellow color of nabat.<\/p>

Sughd, Hisor<\/strong>: Regions where Tajikistan\u2019s cultural inventory records the making of nabot. Hisor refers to an area that includes a valley.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Vatankhah Lotfabadi et al., \u201cCrystal rock candy,\u201d Food Science & Nutrition 2020<\/a> \u2014 Crystallization experiments with supersaturated sucrose at controlled temperatures.<\/li>
  2. Willem Floor, \u201cSugar,\u201d Encyclopaedia Iranica<\/a> \u2014 Imported sugar around 1890 and local nabat processing.<\/li>
  3. \u0421. \u0410\u043c\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0432 et al., \u201c\u0422\u0430\u0434\u0436\u0438\u043a\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u043d\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u0430\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0441\u043b\u0430\u0434\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438,\u201d 1969, pp.44\u201345<\/a> \u2014 Crystal growth on string and on the bottom of the pot, draining and drying. The OCR text was actually read in an earlier survey.<\/li>
  4. National Inventory of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Tajikistan, F146<\/a> \u2014 The two forms of nabot, on string and on the pot bottom, and Sughd and Hisor.<\/li>
  5. Uzbekistan Airways, \u201cCome Over for a Piala of Tea,\u201d 2019<\/a> \u2014 The form with crystals grown on string, and examples using juice and sugar.<\/li>
  6. Gularo Abdulloeva, \u201cUzbek Cuisine\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Uses: served with tea or eaten as a candy.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Navat is crystallized sugar grown into large crystals from a concentrated sugar syrup. In Uzbekistan it is also called novvot, and like Iran\u2019s nab\u0101t (\u0646\u0628\u0627\u062a), it is enjoyed as a sweet served with tea. It comes nearly clear, pale yellow or amber, and is characterized by many crystals clustered along a string core. It forms differently from lumps made by pressing fine sugar together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7652,"menu_order":306,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Navat\u30fbNovvot","subtitle":"Large sugar crystals grown around a string","topics":"Crystals grown from concentrated syrup \/ Sugar that grows large on a string core \/ An Uzbek sweet served with tea","country":"Uzbekistan and elsewhere","show_toc":true,"ingredients":[],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[159],"class_list":["post-8535","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":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"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