Damascus, (SANA) – Syrians have a passion for certain types of sweets, particularly during the month of Ramadan when they rush to buy from the dozens of available varieties.

Famous traditional sweets include "nahsh" which is made of dough strips saturated in milk, ghee and sugar and then stuffed with cream and covered with syrup, and "qatayef" which conists of small circles of sweet dough filled with walnuts or cream and then baked in the oven or fried in oil before being covered in syrup.

Other traditional Damascene sweets include nammoura, almond paste, ghraybah, raha, kellaj, wardat, osmanliyah and maghshusheh.

Damascus marketplaces in Ramadan bustle with fasters shopping for sweets, particularly in the Midan marketplace which is known for its sweets shops that feature beautiful, appetizing and aromatic displays of sweets.

In a statement to SANA, Abu Arab Haidar, one of the most famous confectioners in Midan, said that sales of sweets increases remarkably in Ramadan to around 4 or 5 times, with the most popular items in his shop being nahsh, nammoura and osmanliyah.

Abu Arab's family is renowned in this field since decades alongside other families such as Samman, Dawood, Alwan, Quwayder, Muhanna and Abu el-Jedi.

Some people prefer homemade sweets to those bought in stores, particularly maamoul which is stuffed with date, pistachio, walnut or fruit.

In Ramadan, sales of sweets that contain high amounts of cream increase then decrease gradually as the month winds down and the sales of traditional Eid sweets begin to pick up.

H. Sabbagh