Knafeh

Knafeh (Arabic: كنافة) is a traditional Arab dessert made with kadayif (spun pastry dough) layered with cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar. Knafeh is popular throughout the Arab world, especially in Egypt, and the Levant. Knafeh is often served on special occasions, holidays and celebrating the month of Ramadan. The most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine, Knafeh Nabulseyeh, originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus.

English borrowed the word knafeh from Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and transliterates it as kanafeh, kenafeh, knafeh, kunafah, kunafeh, konafa, knéfé, kunafa, and similar variations.

The ultimate origin of the word is debated. It may come from the Coptic Egyptian kenephiten, a bread or cake. Or it may come from a Semitic root meaning "side" or "wing", and from the Arabic kanafa, "to flank or enclose". Early uses appear in One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk Tales.

A common story is that the knafeh was created to satisfy the hunger of caliphs during Ramadan. The story, which dates in writing as early as the 10th century, is variously said to have occurred in Fatimid Egypt or in the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, Syria, where Levantine dessert makers preparing it for Mu'awiya I.

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's tenth century Arabic cookbook, Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes), which documented many recipes from Abbasid courts, does not mention or describe knafeh. However, it does feature a chapter on qatayif, an Arabic pancake dumpling dessert that originated in the Fatamid Empire. The 13th century cookbook, Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus (Book of Dishes from Maghreb and Al-Andalus), of unknown author, gives a number of recipes for knafeh, which it describes as a pancake dumpling thinner than qatayif prepared on a flat pan. Some of the knafeh recipes in the cookbook call for layering the thin pancake with fresh cheese, baking it, and topping it with honey and rose syrup.

Ibn al-Jazari gives an account of a 13th-century Mamluk period market inspector who rode through Damascus at night ensuring the quality of knafeh, qatayif, and other foods associated with Ramadan. Over time, new knafeh preparation methods were developed, including a technique of dripping thin batter onto a metal sheet from a perforated container, creating hair-like strings. A mid-15th century Ottoman Turkish translation of Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi's Kitab al-Tabikh added several new contemporary knafeh recipes, though it does not specify where they originated from. Today, knafeh is served throughout the Middle East, although it is "particularly associated with Nablus" and considered to be a "cultural touchstone for Palestinian identity".

Knafeh has been described as a "Palestinian Institution." Knafeh Nabulseyeh is a popular version of knafeh originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus, hence the name Nabulseyeh (also spelled as Nabilsiyeh). Nablus is still renowned in for its knafeh, which "is filled with the city’s trademark firm, white, salty nabulsi cheese" and covered with sweet syrup.

Today, knafeh Nabulseyeh is the most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine. As a result, academics have described Nablus as the modern-day knafeh capital.