Safavid-Era Sweet · Pistachio Nougat
Gaz
Photo: Sebleouf / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The original recipe didn't use sugar at all — it relied on angebin, a sweet secretion left by insects feeding on a local tamarisk shrub near Isfahan.
Whipped egg whites are combined with sugar (traditionally angebin), rosewater, and whole pistachios or almonds, then set into a soft, chewy nougat and cut into squares dusted with powdered sugar. Isfahan's confectionery shops have sold it as the city's defining souvenir sweet for more than 450 years.
Why it's made this way: The recipe took shape in Isfahan during the Safavid era, when the city was Persia's capital, and 'Gaz-e Esfahan' remains the benchmark version sold across Iran today.
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