Ingredients
The syrup
- 1 kgsugar
- 300 mlwater
To grow on
- clean cotton string
- or wooden skewers
- a tall clean jar
- a little extra sugar, to seed
Sometimes flavoured with
- a strip of lemon peel
- a pinch of saffron
- for the yellow kind
To serve
- with black tea
- in an armudu glass
- held between the teeth
Directions
- Leave the whole jar entirely alone. The narrow waist keeps the tea hot. Keep children well away from the pan. Pouring hot syrup into a jar is the risky moment. Use a heatproof jar rather than any jar. Warm the jar first so it does not crack. Pour slowly and away from yourself. Cold glass cracks when hot syrup hits it.
- Warm it with hot water beforehand. Then dry it fully before pouring. Cut lengths of clean cotton string. Synthetic string is too smooth. Roll all of them in dry sugar. Let them all dry out completely. Wash a tall clean jar thoroughly. Rinse it and dry it completely.
- Rinse it properly rather than quickly. Tie the strings to a stick or pencil. Lay that across the jar mouth. The strings should hang free in the jar. Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan. Warm it gently and stir until dissolved. All the sugar must dissolve completely.
- Stir it until the liquid runs clear. Bring the syrup right up to a boil. Let it boil for a few minutes. A few minutes of it is enough here. Add a strip of lemon peel to the syrup. Strain the syrup through a fine sieve.
- Let the syrup cool for ten minutes. Very hot syrup can crack the jar. Warm the jar with hot water first. Dry it and set it on a stable surface. Pour all of the syrup in slowly. Pour it well away from yourself. Do not let it splash about at all. Keep your hands clear of the stream. Rest the stick across the jar mouth. Check they hang free of everything. Adjust the string length if needed.
- Set the jar somewhere it will not be moved. Cover it loosely with a cloth. It keeps dust out of the syrup. Leave it for at least a full week. Do not move or disturb it at all. Lift the strings out of the syrup. Let them drip out over the jar. Hang them up to dry completely. They dry hard within a few hours.
- Hang them where they touch nothing. They fuse to whatever they touch wet. Keep them in a sealed dry jar. They keep indefinitely if kept dry. Set the crystals out in a small dish. Pour it out into armudu glasses. The crystals keep indefinitely.
Technique
- Hot water dissolves far more sugar than cold, so a saturated hot syrup releases the excess as crystals as it cools — but they need something to form on, which is why the strings are seeded with dry sugar first. Slow growth gives large clear crystals and fast growth small cloudy ones, so the jar must be left entirely undisturbed for at least a week: any movement breaks growing crystals and seeds new small ones.
- Boiling sugar syrup is far hotter than boiling water and sticks to skin on contact, and pouring it into a jar is the risky moment. Use a heatproof jar, warm it with hot water first so it does not crack, dry it, set it on a stable surface, and pour slowly away from yourself.
- Hang the strings so they touch neither the sides nor the bottom of the jar, since crystals fuse to anything they touch; and hang them clear of everything to dry afterwards for the same reason.
Substitutions
- Wooden skewers work in place of cotton string, though cotton’s rough surface suits crystal growth better than smooth synthetic thread.
- A pinch of saffron steeped in the syrup gives the yellow novvat sold alongside the white.
Variations
- Sugar is not usually stirred into Azerbaijani tea: a lump is held between the teeth and the tea drunk through it, which sweetens each sip while the tea itself stays unsweetened.
- The armudu is the pear-shaped glass whose narrow waist keeps the tea hot while the wide top cools the sip.
- Cloudy small crystals mean it cooled too fast; they are perfectly good to eat and simply less handsome.
History
Grown on strings from sugar syrup; Azerbaijani tea is drunk with novvat, jam or a lump held between the teeth.
Frequently asked questions
What is Novvat?
Novvat is a snack from Azerbaijan: large crystals of rock sugar dissolved slowly in glasses of black tea. Grown on strings from sugar syrup; Azerbaijani tea is drunk with novvat, jam or a lump held between the teeth.
How long does Novvat take to make?
Novvat takes 20 minutes plus a week of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 500 g. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Novvat?
Yes, within limits. Wooden skewers work in place of cotton string, though cotton’s rough surface suits crystal growth better than smooth synthetic thread. A pinch of saffron steeped in the syrup gives the yellow novvat sold alongside the white.
What is the most important thing to get right in Novvat?
Leave the whole jar entirely alone. The narrow waist keeps the tea hot. Keep children well away from the pan. Pouring hot syrup into a jar is the risky moment. Use a heatproof jar rather than any jar. Warm the jar first so it does not crack. Pour slowly and away from yourself. Cold glass cracks when hot syrup hits it.
