According to historianNawal Nasrallah, medieval Arabic cookbooks, such as the 10th century bookKitab al-Tabikh byIbn Sayyar al-Warraq and the 13th centuryAleppanAl-Wusla ila ‘l-Habeeb provide recipes for several spice blends, which were referred to with names likeatraf al-teeb (أطراف الطيب), the namebaharat did not come to refer to spice mixes until theOttoman Empire.[3] One recipe provided byAl-Wusla ila ‘l-Habeeb contained nutmeg, cloves, rose buds, green cardamom, among others.[3][4]
Allspice became a prominent component of baharat when it arrived to the region fromCentral America in the 16th century.[5]
Look upbaharat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Bahārāt is theArabic word for "spices" (the plural form ofbahār,'spice').[6][7] The word originates from thePersian wordbahār.[8] The use of the termbaharat likely started in theOttoman Empire.[3]
Some historians think that a possible etymological origin for the wordbaharat is the wordbahar, one of the oldnames of India, which was the source for many of the spices imported into the Arab world.[5][3]
In Arabic,baharat typically refers to spices in general rather than a specific set.[9][5][6]
Turkishbaharat karisimi includesmint in the largest proportion.[11][12][2] InTunisia,baharat refers to a simple mixture of driedrosebuds and groundcinnamon, often combined with black pepper. InEastern Arabia,loomi (dried black lime) andsaffron may also be used for thekebsa spice mixture (also called "baharat").[2][13] In theGaza Strip, dill and hot pepper are uniquely popular components of baharat.[14] In Egypt,baharat is typically made from cinammon, allspice, and cloves.[15]
Besides regional variants, the ingredients are also tailored for different dishes.[16]Baharat mixes for sweets often use cinammon,anise,mahlab, cardamom, saffron, ormastic.[13][17]
Bzar orbizar (Arabic:بزار) refers to a spice mix popular inEmirati cuisine andOmani cuisine, it is made by grinding dry spices and mixing them, and often mixed with ghee and used in a wide array of dishes.[21][22][23]
In theLevant a spice mix calledsabaa baharat (Arabic:سبع بهارات,lit.'seven spices') is used. Its origins are fromAleppo,Syria. Though it seems to slightly vary from province to province, the typical recipe for it is the following spices, ground and mixed:[24]
^Asadī, Khayr al-Dīn (1981).موسوعة حلب المقارنة [Comparative Encyclopedia of Aleppo] (in Arabic).University of Aleppo. p. 185. Retrieved23 December 2025.وإذا قالوا: البْهارات عنوا كل صـنوف التوابل من بهار وفلفل وقرنفل وجوز الطيب والقرفة وحب الهال، سموها كلها بالبهارات على التغليب. [And if they say: baharat, they mean all types of spices such as pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom. They call them all baharat by way of generalization.]
^abغفاری-ghafaridiet.com, دکتر."سوالات آیین نامه رانندگی".رژیم درمانی دکتر غفاری (in Persian). Retrieved2022-04-08.
