Violet conserve (بنفسج مربّى, banafsaj murabbā)

A recipe from an 11th-century pharmacological encyclopedia compiled by the Baghdadi scholar Ibn Jazla. It is very easy to make and involves drying petals from good-quality fragrant violet flowers in the sun and then adding sugar syrup.

Medicinally, the conserve was said to be good for the chest and useful against coughs and roughness in the throat.

Violet conserve recipe in a copy of Ibn Jazla’s text in the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland

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