Faloodeh is a sorbet made of cooked vermicelli noodles frozen in a syrup of sugar and rose water, finished with a squeeze of lime juice.
Legend has it that faloodeh was the first frozen dessert ever made--dating from around 400 BC--and that it was invented largely by accident, when flavoring syrups were spilled on snow, and people realized that they could be transformed into a delicious treat. Whatever the origin, Faloodeh is native to the city of Shiraz, and is often called Shirazi Faloodeh.
In ancient Persia (modern-day Iran), during the reign of the Achaemenid Empire, Persians developed a very different take on the treat that used pasta as the base. The iced concoction historically consisted of noodles, rose water, lime juice, and cherry syrup. These noodles were initially made from wheat, rice, maize, or arrowroot, but today the recipe typically calls for vermicelli rice noodles you can buy in stores or markets.
To preserve food in a hot, dry climate, Persian engineers developed a type of massive, domed ice house called a yakhchal. The yakhchals kept Persian royalty supplied with faloodeh during sweltering summers. Today’s faloodeh is often served with sour cherries (or sour cherry syrup), fresh mint, berries, crushed pistachios, and/or a dollop of saffron ice cream.
Faloodeh is an Arabicized form of paloodeh that appeared after the Arab conquest of Iran, due to a lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. In Arab medieval sources, it was known as Faloothaj. In the 16th to 18th centuries, the Indo-Persian Mughal kings who ruled South Asia created a cold dessert beverage called falooda, which is a derivative of faloodeh.
A thin batter of starch (from potatoes, arrowroot, maize, or rice) is cooked, then pressed through a sieve producing delicate strings similar to cellophane noodles, that are then chilled in ice water.[3][4] Afterwards, they are combined with the syrup mixture and rapidly cooled until the syrup is at least half-frozen.
Faloodeh remains very popular in Iran to this day, served in coffee shops and ice cream parlors across the nation. It’s traditionally dyed with saffron, an exotic spice that imparts a subtle yellow color and almost undetectable floral flavor.
Faloodeh is often served alongside Persian-style dairy-based ice cream, which is similar to Western-style ice cream, but usually flavored with pistachios and honey. The combination of flavors and textures set this traditional Iranian dessert apart