Indulgences

1. Ҳалво

   Hal-vo

   Halvo (the general name for sweets of sugar, flour, fat and nuts)

   Usage

   The general name for sweet things made from sugar, honey, flour, fat, raisins, almonds and walnuts with aromatics mixed in. There are many kinds — halvoi shiri, halvoi kunjidi, halvoi rishta, halvoi pashmak. Sold by weight at the sweet stalls of a bazaar

2. Ҳалвои пашмак

   Hal-vo-i pash-mak

   Halvoi pashmak (halva pulled into wool-like threads)

   Usage

   A Tajik sweet, made in the towns for weddings, gatherings and above all Navruz. The name comes from pashm (wool) plus the suffix -ak, because the pulled threads look like wool

3. Набот

   Na-bot

   Nabot (large sugar crystals grown on threads)

   Usage

   A tasty national sweet, translucent and yellowish, made of large crystals. Two parts sugar to one part water are boiled into a syrup and skimmed, and the crystals grow on white threads strung across the pot. Taken with tea, either dropped in or held in the mouth

4. Нишолло

   Ni-shol-lo

   Nisholo (a whipped white sugar confection)

   Usage

   A kind of shiravori (sweet), also spelled nishallo. The name derives from nushhalvo, "drinking halva". It is seasonal and not on sale all year

5. Парварда

   Par-var-da

   Parvarda (white pulled sugar cut into small pieces)

   Usage

   A kind of sweet: sugar boiled to a syrup with a little lemon juice, poured into a greased copper or enamelled vessel, spun and cooled in a larger pot of water, dusted with wheat flour, then worked on a hook until it turns white, drawn out thin and cut into small pieces. The flour dusting is why it looks powdery

6. Мураббо

   Mu-rab-bo

   Murabbo (fruit preserved in sugar; jam)

   Usage

   Fruit cooked with sugar, widespread across Central, South and West Asia and the South Caucasus, usually made from fruit, sugar and spices. It is also made from apricots, plums and pears. Served in a small dish alongside tea

7. Тутпист

   Tut-pist

   Tutpist (flour ground from dried mulberries)

   Usage

   A food made from mulberries: dried mulberries ground on a stone or in a mill into talqon, which is called tutpist. It hardens quickly in damp air and is broken up with an axe. Used in sweets and halva, and also eaten as it is with tea

8. Мавиз

   Ma-viz

   Maviz (raisins)

   Usage

   Dried grapes, made from the varieties called mavizbob (fit for drying). Sold in heaps at bazaars with apricots and walnuts as the dried things eaten with tea

9. Шароб

   Sha-rob

   Wine

   Usage

   Boda, may, sharob — a kind of intoxicating drink, with three names. Note that "may" on its own means the month of May. As a guest, let your host raise the subject of alcohol rather than offering it yourself

10. Оби ҷав

    O-bi jav

    Beer

    Usage

    Obi jav or pivo — the most consumed and probably the oldest alcoholic drink, the world's favourite after water and tea, made mainly from barley but also from rice and wheat. The Russian loan "pivo" is what you will usually see on shop signs

    Grammar Note

    Ob (water) takes the ezafe -и and links to jav (barley): "barley water". The same construction as obi maʼdani, mineral water

11. Арақ

    A-raq

    Spirits (vodka)

    Usage

    An alcoholic drink, a mixture of spirit and water distilled from rye, wheat and barley, at 40, 50 or 56 per cent. Note that the same spelling araq also means "sweat", so the drink is distinguished as "araq (drink)". As a guest, do not press it on anyone

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