Indulgences

1. Novvot

   Novvot (large crystal rock sugar, eaten with tea)

   Usage

   Sugar syrup boiled down and crystallised — 99.75% sucrose. It comes with the tea as a matter of course, and is sold bagged as a souvenir

2. Parvarda

   Parvarda (pillow-shaped sugar candy dusted with flour)

   Usage

   Made from sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil and citric acid, pulled and cut into little pillows. Piled high at the sweet stalls of any bazaar

3. Pashmak

   Pashmak (sugar spun into fine threads, like a dense candy floss)

   Usage

   From Persian "pashmak", little wool. Sugar, flour, mutton fat and vinegar pulled into fibres; long famous across Central Asia

4. Holva

   Holva (halva: a firm sweet of sugar with sesame or nuts)

   Usage

   From Arabic "halwā". Named by what goes into it — sesame, walnut, almond, sunflower, peanut. The distinctly Uzbek flour-based version is called "O'zbek holvasi"

5. Holvaytar

   Holvaytar (a soft, pourable sweet of roasted flour and sugar syrup)

   Usage

   Flour fried in hot oil until brown, then sugar syrup poured in and stirred for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Unlike solid holva, you eat it with a spoon

6. Sumalak

   Sumalak (a sweet paste of sprouted wheat, made for Navro'z)

   Usage

   Stirred through the night in a huge cauldron for Navro'z, the spring-equinox holiday. No sugar is added — the sweetness comes entirely from the sprouted wheat. ⚠ You will only find it around March

7. Muzqaymoq

   Ice cream

   Usage

   A compound of "muz" (ice) and "qaymoq" (cream). Kiosks appear in parks and squares through the summer

8. Mayiz

   Raisins

   Usage

   Grapes dried in the sun, in the shade or by machine. Dried-fruit stalls in the bazaar sell several colours and varieties by weight

9. Pista

   Pistachio

   Usage

   Wild pistachio grows in Central Asia. Sold by weight alongside the dried fruit; "xandon pista" is an alternative name

10. Sigareta

    Cigarette

    Usage

    Sold legally in kiosks and supermarkets. ⚠ Smoking indoors, on public transport and in public places is restricted by law; whether a particular venue allows it varies, so always ask

11. Sharob

    Wine

    Usage

    ⚠ Drinking and selling alcohol are legal in Uzbekistan, and Samarkand has had a winery since 1868. Even so, a choyxona (teahouse) sells no alcohol at all. Do not order or bring it during Ramadan or in religious settings. Menus often use the Russian-derived spelling "vino"

12. Konyak

    Konyak (cognac-style grape brandy)

    Usage

    Spirit of 65–70% distilled from white grapes and aged in oak. The Samarkand winery lists it among its main products and it is sold as a souvenir.

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