I know you might be thinking, “ALCOHOL?!” but no, booza is not in fact booze. Booza is an ancient Middle Eastern ice cream made with mastic, a type of gum, which gives the ice cream a stretchy texture. Instead of churning cold cream and sugar into what we know as ice cream, my Middle Eastern ancestors (ok, maybe not my ancestors) would beat and stretch cold cream and sugar with mastic, so the result wasn’t a churn-type of creamy, but a stretchy-type of creamy. It’s made in various different ways throughout the Middle East, with many different names – ashta in Syria, dondurma in Turkey, or booza in Lebanon.

Growing up, whenever we would eat really good ice cream, my mom would make a comment about how it was nothing compared to the booza she had back in Syria (even in Italy, when we were eating some of the best gelato in the world). It wasn’t until I was 21 when I had my first real booza, at Glace Bachir in Le Marais district in Paris. In addition to its wide flavor selection, Bachir coats each scoop of its stretchy booza in ground pistachios, which by itself would sell me on its shop. As I was eating my sixth (yes, sixth) scoop of delicious stretchy, rose-water essenced booza, I finally understood what my mom had been talking about all of these years.

Note: The below recipe requires a few ingredients that aren’t easy to find. Sahlep is one; the ground powder, which comes from the orchid plant, has been protected from export because of over-harvesting and climate change. The sahlep you can find online or in specialty grocery stores is usually an imitation of the real thing, but achieves the similar thickening texture as the real deal. Mastic is another; usually found in small pebbles, the resin from the mastic tree creates a stretchy product that’s often found in gum. Mastic can be found at specialty grocery stores or online as well.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups + 2 tbsp. heavy cream, cold

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup labneh or whole-milk greek yogurt

1/2 packet (1/2 cup or 100g) sahlep*

1 tsp. mastic pebbles**

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. rosewater***

3/4 cup pistachios, ground or chopped into small pieces

*buy sahlep online here

**buy mastic online here

***buy rosewater online here

DIRECTIONS

In a mortar and pestle, combine mastic pebbles with 1/2 tsp. salt and grind into a fine powder (you could alternatively crush mastic using a mallet or heavy object). If mastic is already ground, skip this step and omit the extra 1/2 tsp. salt.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, sahlep, ground mastic, rose water, and 2 tbsp. heavy cream until combined. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using an electric whisk/your arm strength), whisk 2 cups cold heavy cream into stiff, fluffy peaks, starting on low and increasing the speed to high gradually.

Using a rubber spatula, scoop about 1/2 cup whipped cream into the milk mixture and fold together; this will help lighten the mixture. Pour the milk mixture into the whipped cream and add the labneh or greek yogurt (this adds a little tang and cuts down on the overly sweet condensed milk). Fold together until incorporated, by scooping the sides up and pulling through the middle, like you’re creating a little whipped cream-condensed-milk stream (am I getting too technical? If you don’t know how to fold, watch this video).

Next, fold in 1/2 cup chopped pistachios until incorporated. Pour mixture into a loaf pan, top with remaining 1/4 cup pistachios, and cover well with plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for at least 8 hours. Before enjoying, allow ice cream to soften at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.

store: in the freezer for up to 1 month.

diet: vegetarian

eat it with: extra pistachios, just like Glace Bachir!