Makroud is shared across the Maghreb - Algerian, Tunisian, Libyan, Moroccan - and its diamond shape is the same from Tangier to Tripoli. In the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda, makroud is the sweet of the date merchants, who brought the recipe across the Sahara with caravans carrying the great date harvests of Tafilalet and the Souf. The date paste inside is the soul of the pastry; the semolina shell is just its vehicle. Oujda families traditionally make makroud for Eid al-Fitr, the feast that breaks Ramadan, and the diamonds are stacked in tall pyramids on brass trays. There is a story that a 17thcentury Oujda merchant, asked why he sold makroud at the same price for fifty years, replied: 'When the price of makroud rises, the price of friendship falls.' He kept his price, even when honey and dates doubled, and the city still honors his memory.
Original traditionstewOriental
Makroud (Date & Semolina Diamonds)
Semolina diamonds stuffed with date paste, deep-fried or baked, then drowned in honey syrup — a shared Maghrebi sweet from Oujda's date merchants.
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Makroud (Date & Semolina Diamonds) belongs to the Oriental table. Taste it where its shared Moroccan heritage kitchen tradition lives, or fold it into an itinerary through the region.
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