Zang-e Tafrih

The story

Lavashak is the fruit leather Iranian children trade at school and adults buy by the sheet on the climb up Darband, the mountain path above Tehran where the tea houses hang over the stream: sour plum, pomegranate, apricot, pounded flat, dried in the sun and so sour it makes your eyes water. Everyone who grew up in Iran has a lavashak memory. This sour puts that memory in a coupe. Pomegranate juice gives the colour, our sour plum cordial gives the pucker, aragh gives the raisin backbone, and a ribbon of the real thing hangs on the glass to chew between sips.

Method

1. Chill a coupe.
2. Shake the aragh, pomegranate juice, sour plum cordial, lemon juice and saline hard with ice for 12 seconds.
3. Double-strain into the coupe.
4. Fold a ribbon of lavashak onto a pick, rest it across the rim and add a mint tip.

How it tastes

Sour first, the way lavashak is sour: plum and pomegranate skin, then the dried-grape warmth of the spirit and a little salt that makes you want the next sip. Deep garnet in the glass.

Persian taste: torsh (sour)

Pair it with

• Food: Sabzi khordan with feta and walnuts, or a plate of kuku sabzi.
• Sweet: Apricot lavashak, the sweeter one.
• Snack: Nokhodchi-kishmish, the tuck-shop mix

Variations

Foam

Add 15 ml aquafaba and dry-shake first for a silkier sour.

Pisco

Unaged pisco if you have no aragh.

Winter

When fresh pomegranates are gone, swap the juice for 20 ml pomegranate syrup and 10 ml water.

Balancing tips

• Fresh pomegranate juice only; bottled juice tastes cooked and flat.
• Lavashak and cordials vary in sourness; taste and move the lemon between 10 and 20 ml.
• Serve very cold; sourness goes harsh as it warms.

Allergens

• No common allergens.
• Contains alcohol. Please drink responsibly.

Development notes

• Status: original recipe draft v0.1, not yet taste-tested.
• Test cordial at 15 and 20 ml.
• Try apricot lavashak as the garnish.