Bouzat is the Fes perfumer's ice cream - born in the city where orange trees bloom in every courtyard and where the distillation of orange blossom water has been an art since Andalusian refugees brought it in 1492. Unlike Western ice creams, which are heavy on cream and vanilla, Moroccan bouzat is light on the palate and perfumed on the nose: the orange blossom hits first, then the cream, then the toasted almond at the end. There is a Fes story that a 19th-century perfume maker, asked to create a dessert for the Sultan's summer visit, distilled orange blossom water into his ice cream base and presented it in tiny crystal bowls. The Sultan declared that the ice cream was 'a cool breeze through an orange grove,' and the recipe was given to the city. Today, Fes still makes bouzat the same way, served on the rooftop terraces of medina houses on summer evenings when the heat finally breaks and the orange trees are in bloom.
Original traditionstewFès-Meknès
Bouzat (Orange-Blossom Ice Cream)
Silky Moroccan ice cream perfumed with orange blossom water and studded with toasted almonds — Fes's fragrant answer to the summer heat.
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Bouzat (Orange-Blossom Ice Cream) belongs to the Fès-Meknès table. Taste it where its Andalusian-Moroccan heritage kitchen tradition lives, or fold it into an itinerary through the region.
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