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What Are Some of Ancient Egypt's Dessert Dishes?

What Are Some of Ancient Egypt's Dessert Dishes?
Written By
April Sanders
April Sanders
Dec 18, 2013
2 minute read

Ancient Egyptians ate a fairly balanced diet consisting of vegetables, fish and wild game such as gazelles. They also ate a lot of bread and beer -- in fact, these two staples were likely eaten at every meal, according to History.com. Meals were finished off with sweet treats, which usually included dates, raisins, other fruits and honey.

Tiger Nut Sweets

Tiger nut sweets may be one of the most famous Egyptian dessert dishes. The recipe for tiger nut sweets was actually found on a broken piece of ancient Egyptian pottery and dated to around 1600 BCE, according to the American Research Center in Egypt. Although modern interpretations of the recipe use walnuts, almonds or both, the original recipe used tiger nuts, which are actually tubers of the Cyperus esculentus plant. The tiger nuts were chopped into small pieces and mixed with chopped dates, honey and spices, and then formed into small balls. Ancient Egyptians ate with their fingers, so these bite-sized balls may have been the perfect after-dinner treat or anytime snack.

Honey Cakes

Many tomb paintings from ancient Egypt show Egyptians feasting on what archaeologists think might be a type of honey cake. These may have been a dessert dish called folded pie. The simple pastry dough was created using wheat flour, warm water and salt, and then fried in oil and filled with fruit, honey and nuts.

Date Loaves

Mashed dates, mixed with goat's milk, butter, honey and coconut were another dessert dish in ancient Egypt. The concoction was often shaped into decorative loaves. Crocodile-shaped loaves were common because the crocodile was seen as a symbol of good luck in ancient Egypt, according to the ''Egypt Independent.''

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Dumplings

Dumplings are similar to folded pie in that they are a basic pastry dish, but made with fermented dough added to wheat flower. The resulting dough was shaped into balls and fried in oil. Then, they were rolled in cinnamon, or drizzled with honey.

April Sanders

April Sanders is a writer, teacher and the mother of three boys. Raised on an organic farm, she is an avid gardener and believes that good growth starts with a rich, supportive foundation -- a philosophy that serves her well in both…

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