Murabba (from ) is a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. A similar dish to murabba (spoon sweets) is also popular in the Balkans. It is generally prepared with fruits, sugar, and spices.
The word murabba is of Arabic origin. MurabbÃÂ () in Arabic literally means "something made into rubb ()". Rubb is fruit juice that has been cooked and thickened (inspissated). The verb rabbÃÂ is used to refer to preserving fruit by cooking it with sugar or honey until it reduces and sets into a concentrated syrup.
In Hindi, murabba () refers to preserved fruits or jams.
The 10th-century Arabic cookbook kitab al-tabikh by Abbasid author Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq dedicates an entire chapter to making fruit conserves (murabbayat). Medieval cookbooks included recipes for rose petal murabba.
The 1867 dictionary ArabicâÂÂEnglish Lexicon by Edward William Lane described murabba as "preserves, or confections" made with "inpissated juice" (). An 1895 translation by Socrates Spiro described (mirabby) in English as "jam" or "marmalade".
In India, popular fruits that are candied and left in Its own syrup are apple, fig, cherry, pear, Indian gooseberry (amla), raw mango, carrots, plum, quince, peach and winter melon.
In Lebanon and Syria, figs are traditionally made into anise-flavored murabba during the summer, often mixed with nuts. Mabroosha () is a Levantine pie filled with murabba.
Antebikh () or ainabia () is a traditional grape murabba from Hebron flavored with anise seeds.
The most popular fruits and other ingredients turned into murabba () in Armenia/Armenian cuisine are watermelon, watermelon rind, quince, pumpkin, apricot, mulberry, raspberry, pear, cherry, cornelian cherry, plum, pomegranate, and walnut.