White halva name. The composition of halva and its calorie content

What is halva and where did it come from? Halva is an oriental dessert, translated from Arabic means "sweetness". For the first time it began to be made in Iran. Over time, gaining popularity, it spread throughout the world, and no one knows how it got to Russia.

At first, only beauties from the harem got the delicacy. But since the product is too high-calorie, warriors began to use it. All recipes for making treats were classified. The secret of the recipe was discovered after the soldiers returned home from the Crusades. So halva got to the territory of Europe.

Halva: useful properties

Main property sunflower halva- increase the level of hemoglobin in the blood. This is due to the fact that it contains a large amount of iron and copper. Copper is the main catalyst in the production of hemoglobin.

• Helps to cope with insomnia, stress, calms the nervous system.
• Restores acid-base balance.
• Helps the body recover from illness.
• The product contains a huge amount of minerals useful for the heart, these are iron, phosphorus, calcium, manganese, zinc.
• Helps speedy healing of wounds.
• This product is good for teeth, gives shine to hair, rejuvenates the skin.
• Restores blood pressure.
• Improves memory.
• Stops the growth of benign and malignant neoplasms (mammary gland, ovaries, intestines).
• Sesame halva is useful for athletes. It helps to relax the body and restore strength after long physical training.

Halva - composition

In total, there are about 100 varieties of halva. Its composition may vary. The main types that can be found in stores are: sunflower, nut, combined, sesame and chocolate.

In addition to fragrant original taste, she has exceptional chemical composition . These include minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, food acids and lots of protein.

What is halva made of, manufacturing process

The main ingredients in the product are natural honey, sugar, soap root, sunflower seeds or nuts. Crushed nuts are mixed with caramel, beating everything until smooth.

In order for its structure to be correct, in a mixture add soap root, but this is only in industrial production, at home it is rarely used. Ascorbic acid used as an antioxidant. If desired, flavor-enhancing ingredients such as raisins, vanillin, or cocoa are added to the mixture.

The sweet taste of halvah is given by sugars, and the carbohydrate content reaches up to 54 g per 100 g of the product. Its calorie content is very high, like in chocolate, but its benefits are much greater. 100 g contains up to 500 kcal.

Sesame and almond halva has the lowest calorie content, while in sunflower it reaches up to 512 kcal.

For people who are watching their own figure, the consumption of the product should be limited or consumed in small portions.

The benefits of halva for the female body

Oriental delicacy contains vitamins B1, F1 and phytosterol, which is very useful for women. Thanks to the regular use of treats, sleep and mood improve, depression and PMS symptoms disappear.

Halva for pregnant women

If there are no contraindications, then it will be very useful for pregnant women to use sunflower halva in their diet. Folic acid contained in the product helps the formation of bone tissue in the fetus.

Vitamins E, B1, PP and F1 will extra food hair, nails and skin will also not be allowed to develop anemia. For breastfeeding mothers who want to continue breastfeeding, it is recommended to use healthy treat . Milk will be produced more and its fat content will increase.

To prevent the baby from developing an allergy, you should eat a piece of the product up to 10 grams. If after a few days an allergic reaction does not appear, then the portion can be increased. Gradually bringing up to 300 grams per day.

Halva for diabetes

With diabetes, this product is contraindicated. Due to the lack of insulin in the body, produced by the pancreas, blood sugar rises.

Therefore, people with diabetes must follow a certain diet. But do not be upset, for such people they make special kind of halva. Instead of molasses it is based on fructose.

Harm from halva

You can not use the product in unlimited quantities, otherwise all the benefits of it and fragrant taste evaporate.

• Oriental sweetness can cause allergies and metabolic disorders if it contains a large amount of artificial colors, preservatives and synthetic emulsifiers.
• Because of high calorie content who wish to drop excess weight or people suffering from obesity, it is better not to use this product.
• For people with cholecystitis, gastritis, pancreatitis, the product is completely prohibited. even eaten small piece can cause an exacerbation of the disease, since its composition is too heavy for the body.
• Made sweets based on sugar molasses are prohibited for people with diabetes.

Important! In order for the body not to be harmed in the first place, the product must be fresh and high quality. If it has expired or was stored incorrectly, cadmium accumulated in the seeds can provoke poisoning.

It is recommended to buy halva packaged, hermetically packed. The packaging will indicate the composition of the product, the expiration date and conditions for proper storage.

In addition, the packaging protects the product from contamination. It must be undamaged, otherwise the shelf life of the product is reduced.

1. A quality product should be free of oily traces. Droplets of fat that appeared on the surface and places with darkening show that the sweetness was stored incorrectly and microbiological spoilage began.
2. If the technological process was violated during the manufacture of the product, then the halva will be with hard caramel streaks.
3. If, when cut, the product has smooth edges and does not crumble much, this indicates that it is of high quality.

It is better to spend more time when choosing halva, but make sure that it is of high quality and will not harm your health.

In order for sunflower halva to keep fresh longer and benefit the body, you should know how to store it properly:

• the first thing to do is to remove the packaging in which it was sold;
• the product is transferred to a glass or ceramic dishes, cover with a lid and store in a refrigerator or in a dry, dark place with a temperature of up to 18 degrees.

Witty mocker and hero of medieval anecdotes of all countries Central Asia cheerful Khoja Nasreddin lamented that the mere mention of halva does not add sweetness. But no matter what the respected Khoja says, in the mouth at the mere thought of this delicacy it immediately becomes sweeter.

Here's a simple psychological experiment for you: mentally pronounce this sweet word HALVA, imagine it delicious taste and aroma, crunch of caramel fibers, flavor of nuts. Well? Just salivating, right?

History and origins

They say that this dessert was invented by the chefs of the Persian kings, but halva recipes will probably be found someday on cuneiform clay tablets from even more ancient times.

Linguistics testifies to the deepest antiquity of the dish: in all ancient Persian and Arabic dialects, the root of the word halva means "sweetness“.

This sweet is savored by the heroes of Indian, Assyrian and Arabic legends and, of course, the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.

Aladdin tells a genie from a magical copper lamp to set the table with the best halva and sherbet in Baghdad to treat his mother, amazed by miracles.

Halva was brought to the European coast of the Mediterranean Sea from Central Asia literally on the edge of the sword. The Athenians knew about it delicious dessert during the Greco-Persian wars, five hundred years before our era.

Since then, the basic recipe classic sweets remains unchanged. It is made from roasted nuts or oilseeds crushed into an oily paste and caramelized sugar (honey).

So different, but so delicious!

There are hundreds of varieties of halva - from gelatinous mass based on honey, butter and flour to vegetable desserts. The recipe differs depending on the country.

National varieties

Samarkand (daima-oila)- whipped on egg whites with cashew paste, vanillin, sugar, cream and molasses. Part of the nuts is placed in the filling as a whole.

Kokand- with chocolate, cream, pistachios and other nuts.

Indian- as many-sided as this country itself: the dessert is prepared on the basis of flour, nuts, sweet carrots, bottle gourd. Milk or fruit juices, Indian spices are added to the mass.

Turkish- hundreds of varieties. Crispy halvich gossamer is very popular: a thick hot mass of nuts, sugar and honey is pulled into thin threads, formed into balls, and then cooled.

Sheki- belongs to Azerbaijani cuisine and getting ready for the big holidays. used rice flour, in the paste there is cardamom and cilantro.

Uzbek- milk, milk chocolate, with walnuts and pistachios. Tashkent (Tajik) is distinguished by crispy caramel fibers.

Halva is famous Kabardian(khelyue, based on coarsely ground millet), Azov (sunflower, glazed), Crimean (peanut-tahini, stuffed with almonds), Tver (sunflower with nuts).

Ingush and Chechen differ in the flour chosen for the dish. The Ingush cook akhyar khovla with corn, and the Chechens (deman khyovla) with wheat. Both recipes include walnuts.

Vietnamese- based on local mung mash beans. It has a bright, unusual, but pleasant taste.

Greek (halvas simigdalenis)- based on semolina, olive oil, almonds, walnuts. Orange is added to the paste and lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves, raisins.

If you try to arrange the varieties depending on the composition, then it is worth highlighting 3 large groups: from seeds or nuts, based on flour, from vegetables.

Halva from nuts, seeds

Most common different kinds from nuts and seeds of oil plants (flax, sesame, poppy, hemp). Among this variety in our area, the most popular, of course, is halva from sunflower seeds.

Sunflower halva: benefits and harms

Prepared in accordance with all the rules from natural ingredients, this dessert cannot harm a healthy person.

This is a very high-calorie, satisfying and tasty food.

All its components of natural origin are the nucleoli of sunflower seeds, beet sugar, purified water. Manufacturers are trying to diversify the delicacy and please the sweet tooth. chocolate icing, then the addition of nuts or spices. But read the labels carefully. It happens that the benefits of sunflower halva are questionable if genetically modified products are used in sweets. While discussions are underway about their benefits and harms, we advise you to refrain from such acquisitions. Harm health and stale sweetness. Her main feature– sticky dark surface.

Attention!

According to GOST RF, the structure of this halva should be fibrous-layered.

If the fat content of the batch of seeds delivered for processing is insufficient for the requirements of GOST (less than 28%), the technology allows the addition of sunflower oil to the prepared sweetness.

Choose halva correctly in appearance - a light, creamy-gray mass, with bright aroma seeds. It is important to pay attention to the shelf life. You can store real halva for no more than 2 months, if the period is longer, then synthetic preservatives are added to the composition. Up to six months, sweets from halva in glaze are stored.

Peanut treat

Peanuts are a close relative of peas and beans.

The Americans claim that peanut bean halva was invented by an agronomist and a successful farmer from Alabama, J. Carver, at the beginning of the last century.

Peanut halva It turns out a cream color, dense texture.

Pieces of coarsely chopped roasted peanuts, candied fruits are additionally added to the mass.

Tahini: a real oriental sweet

It is prepared from sesame-sesame paste (tahini). This is the famous Persian halva.

Avicenna successfully treated sesame oil headaches of patients, ailments of the stomach and liver. He advised speakers, singers and actors to regularly eat sesame halva or simply chew sesame seeds so that the voice acquires sonority and purity.

Tahini paste is versatile. It forms the basis of sauces, oriental snacks with lemon, garlic, chickpeas, pepper, etc. (hummus). In the United States, such pasta and tahini halva are sold in health food stores.

Here is a video of one of the most simple ways from sesame paste:

Treat from kandalatchi

The best halva in the world is handmade in Iran. Here, since the time of the Persian Empire, there has been a very respected profession - shackles. These are the masters of making halva and some other selected sweets.. The real Iranian (aka Persian) halva is made in their kitchens exclusively by hand. This profession is hereditary, each kandalatchi prepares halva in his own way and knows many hundreds of her recipes.

Delicious mix

An interesting flavor combination in the dessert has a mixture of tahini and peanut butter. On the cut, both components form a fancy pattern.

Nut halva

IN different regions world, such sweetness is made from local nuts. The usefulness of any nut halva is obvious - it is both protein and fat-soluble vitamins. In the Middle East, almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios are in use, in tropical countries - cashews, coconut. In the south of Europe, walnut is used, and in Northern Europe and in the British Isles, hazelnuts. In Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Crimea, you can try pecan halva, similar to walnuts. But be careful: pecans are a strong allergen.

Dessert with flour

For flour-based sweets, coarse grinding of wheat, corn, and rice is used.

Such halvah is unusual and tasty, its composition can be supplemented with nuts, sugar, honey.

In Turkey, for example, pine nuts paste, milk, cinnamon, citrus zest are added to a flour dessert.

But this is just one of many options.

It is made from flour, ghee and powdered sugar.

Azerbaijani (Baku) is distinguished by the addition of saffron and honey.

Armenian is prepared with large pieces of walnuts.

Dessert with flour can be dense, homogeneous, or it can turn out to be crumbly or jelly-like.

Vegetable halva

Such a treat is popular in the countries of Indochina, in Africa, on the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In Vietnam, Laos, Madagascar, the basis of vegetable halva is calabash (Vietnamese pumpkin), the fruit of pumpkin liana. In addition to sweet vegetables, roasted beans and nuts are often present in the dessert.

Indian carrot treat

One of the varieties Indian halva(Gajjar Karrah) is prepared from grated carrots, almonds, raisins boiled in milk with spices - nutmeg, carnation.

Bean Recipes

There is a recipe for halva of their beans, popular in Pakistan, East India, Afghanistan.

It is also known from the Vedic texts.

Chana dal beans (chickpeas, kabuli), water, cane brown sugar, cashew nuts, coconut flakes, butter, cardamom are used.

In Vietnam, mung beans are used to make an amazing crumbly halva.

It is served in the form of small cubes.

How halva is made

Halva production is one of the most complex processes in the confectionery industry. The main ingredients, which we already know about, are joined by a natural foam-forming component - saponaria root (so-called "soap root"). Sometimes licorice root is used for foaming (it also gives a licorice flavor) or egg white. In China, tea plant seeds are used for this. Do not be afraid of these components, the soap root is a natural product,

Factories often contribute to sweet mass natural and synthesized dyes, aromatics, flavors, stabilizers - this is much more harmful.

The manufacturing process consists of several stages:

1. First of all, seeds and nuts are cleaned from the husk (shell). If halva is made from seeds (for example, sunflower), they are calibrated in special facilities. Small seeds are sent to the production of food vegetable oil. IN confectionery production only large seeds are used (the mass of a thousand pieces must exceed 65 grams).
2. The selected components of the future dessert go through several stages of drying (their moisture content is brought to about 15%), and then they are sent for heat treatment - roasting (t ° + 110-120 ° C).
3. Now the cooled nucleoli fall into the millstones. For achievement uniform consistency this protein mass is passed through fine sieves of rubbing machines.
4. At the same time, syrup is prepared from sugar, water and molasses (most often corn) in the cooking tanks. The tanks are equipped with mixer blades that constantly mix the contents, as well as bubblers that supply bubbles of hot water vapor into the syrup.
5. The cooked syrup is poured through pipelines into vacuum reactors designed for the preparation of caramel mass.
6. Caramel enters the next technological stage. This is where all the ingredients come together. In special "dancing" boilers-mixers, which change position from vertical to horizontal, the mass is whipped, stretched and flattened, mixed; bubblers saturate the caramel with air bubbles until it reaches the consistency required for a particular type of halvah. In any case, the mass should be viscous and thick, but it should not harden. Perfectly whipped caramel stretches into strings of light gray or white. They penetrate the halva in all directions, like the mycelium of a mushroom.
7. The technological chain is closed by filling machines. They form sticks and sweets from the hot mass, if necessary, cover them with icing or chocolate, place them in plastic bags or pour them into a rigid container.

Here is how sunflower halva is made in production:

Large manufacturers produce dozens of varieties, and marketers and designers develop attractive packaging for sweet goods.

By the way, the peculiarity of halva packaging is that it is airtight, and the best manufacturers do not skimp on vacuum bags - in air, the product quickly oxidizes, melts, loses marketable condition and taste qualities.

In India, for aesthetes, a variety of halva is sold in boxes worthy of storing jewelry. Their common name in Sinhala is Raji Tagga (රාජි තෑග්ග), meaning Gift of the Raja. This artistic "container" is made of wood with carvings, painted bamboo planks, brass, decorated with embossing.

Sweets from halva

Halva is a self-sufficient sweet, but inventive confectioners often include it in other sweet products.

Have you ever tried hot cottage cheese donuts or donuts with walnut halva somewhere in the southern resort? At local confectioners, they turn out with a crispy crust, but inside they are airy-soft, porous. To make such sweets, grated halva is mixed with eggs, cottage cheese and flour, a little soda is added, balls or bagels are rolled out and sent to boiling oil.

In addition to large halva bars, from which sellers break off the piece you need by weight, you can also buy portioned bars of various weights packed at the factory, lean cookies with halva, an unusual white braid-halva.

Glazed halva is offered in the form of bars packed in bright wrappers.

Here halva can be accompanied by additions - dried apricots, nuts, raisins, dates, figs.

There are small sweets "Halva in chocolate", and buckets weighing 5 kilos.

Often technologists confectionery factories come up with unusual combinations popular sweets - for example, bird's milk with halva.

calories, diet, fasting

Want to lose weight? Eat halva, it is not dangerous for the figure! But a little. This product suppresses the feeling of hunger for a long time and provides the body with useful trace elements. The number of calories in halva depends on the type of sweetness. Calorie dessert from seeds and nuts - about 500 kcal per 100 g. IN vegetable species a little less calories, in halva from flour about the same.

It's even on sale dietary halva with a minimum sugar content - it is better to buy this only when losing weight, but also with various metabolic disorders, for example, with diabetes.

During Lent, Christians are allowed to eat halva, as this is quite lean product. But only if there is no milk, chocolate, etc. in the composition.

Halvah is also included in the list of products allowed by devout Muslims to be consumed during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Most of the Indian population are staunch vegetarians.

Many halva recipes have been invented here that do not violate the beliefs of Hindus and Buddhists - carrot, bean, nut.

Raw foodists make halva from honey, green buckwheat, ground nuts, flax and sesame, dried fruits, coconut flakes and carob - fruits carob reminiscent of cocoa in taste.

The benefits and harms of sweet treats

Within reasonable limits, any halva is useful to everyone. But there are some contraindications - metabolic disorders, diabetes, obesity, as well as allergies to a particular product.

Separately, you need to stop at the peanut dessert.

Peanut halva, the benefits and harms of which have long been the subject of debate between nutritionists and physicians, is an excellent prevention of cardiovascular diseases in terms of the composition of trace elements.

But it can cause an unexpected allergic reaction.

When treating a child for the first time, observe his condition for several hours. If you notice a rash or other signs of an allergy, eliminate this sweet from the family diet.

It has been noticed that such halva can cause unwanted reactions in pregnant and lactating women.

In this case, treat yourself to another type of halva, for example, cedar.

Walnut is also useful in vascular diseases. Such sweetness is an assistant for beriberi, anemia.

Almond halva slows down skin aging. But you can’t eat a lot of it, heart rhythm disturbances may occur.

• In June 2012 in Ingushetia from wheat and cornmeal, sugar and butter produced the world's largest briquette of white halva. Its weight was 4 tons, and its length was more than 100 meters. According to the Book of Records of the Russian Federation, a special table had to be made for this treat, and 20 thousand sweet teeth tried the dessert.
• in the Balkans in holidays It is customary to give friends as a sign of the location of sweets - sweets and halva.
• In Arab countries, halva is traditionally given to women at the birth of children.
• Turkish tradition orders to treat a traveler who has returned from distant countries with halva.
• In many Islamic countries, halva also accompanies sad funeral rites.
• In Iran on New Year(Novruz) according to the ancient Zoroastrian custom on holiday table seven sacred objects and dishes must be present, the names of which begin with "S". Among them are gold (sike) and halva (samani).

Halva is the famous oriental sweetness, which is made from seeds, nuts and with the help of a foaming agent on a mixture of ingredients. Iran is considered the birthplace of halva, where they first tried to cook this sweet. By the way, in translation from Arabic, halva means exactly sweetness.

Unlike Slavic traditional sweets, in this product flour components are completely absent, which gives the product much more usefulness compared to buns and cakes. The main difference between halvah and other oriental sweet products is the fibrous texture of its texture, formed by the interaction of a foaming agent and caramel base. Sweetness is prepared by mechanical and heat treatment seeds and nuts, which are initially finely ground, and then poured into hot or sugar-based syrup.

It is to give halva layering that nuts, seeds or legumes are introduced into the mass. The product must be made by hand, this is how the inhabitants of the East came up with it at one time, however, on the shelves of stores around the world you can only find industrial product devoid of many classic qualities, which should be inherent in real halvah.

In the East, the manufacturers of this sweet are called the word "kandalatchi". And although today halvah is prepared all over the world on an industrial scale, connoisseurs of sweets believe that only sweets in Iran are truly delicious, where they are still produced manually by the corresponding craftsmen.

Varieties of sweetness

To date, there are many varieties of halva, which is prepared both according to classical and modern recipes by adding various non-typical ingredients to the product. However, there are only 6 real types of halva, which were historically prepared in the East. famous view sunflower halva is considered, which is characterized by dryness in appearance, the absence of greasy smudges, oiliness, and a grayish-greenish tint, like real sunflower seeds. Such a product cannot contain bitterness, however, it should not be cloying in sweetness. Real sunflower halva is famous for its moderate sweetish aftertaste, light color, dryness and light crumbly texture.

The next famous type of this sweet is. Her recipe contains, which is able to give the product a bitter tint in taste. The color of tahini halva is yellowish gray, without dark transitions or deep earthy tint.

Many people prefer to consume peanut halva as it is very flavorful, creamy and quite healthy. Also popular and walnut halva made from different types nuts, for example, from, almond or pistachio, and maybe from all at once. Such a product may be different in its taste characteristics, depending on the type of raw material used in the manufacture.

Also, all of the above varieties of sweetness can be combined during production, as a result of which manufacturers receive a combined halva, for example, pistachio-sesame or sesame-peanut. Often walnuts are added to sunflower halvah, and pieces of fruit are added to nut specimens.

Glazed halva is considered the youngest in time of occurrence. It is in high demand due to its exquisite taste, despite the fact that such a product is too high in calories and heavy for the stomach.

Storage methods and product selection methodology

In order for the house to have both useful and delicious treat, you need to clearly understand how to choose the right halva in the store, where today it is represented by a huge number of options. It is especially important to take into account the fact that the product is sold both in the weight version and in packages, where it is not always possible even to visually inspect the contents.

When buying a package, you need to make sure the integrity of the purchased products. Next, you should familiarize yourself with the composition, which the manufacturer must indicate on the box, in order to find out if harmful preservatives or flavors were added to the halvah. This fact may indicate not only an improvement in the characteristics finished product(for example, its taste), but also about the fact that the ingredients from which the halva was made were of poor quality, which is why flavoring components had to be added to the composition. When buying a package with halva, you should give preference to transparent boxes or bags, inside which you can see the hallmarks of a good halva:

• a flat surface without sugar smudges, which indicate savings on the main components of the delicacy - nuts or seeds;
• the absence of greasy drops and smudges indicates compliance with all technological aspects in production;
• the absence of a whitish coating indicates the freshness of the product and proper storage.

At vacuum packed the product can be stored without losing its own taste for about 6 months, but in cardboard boxes, sweets cannot be stored for more than 2 months from the date of release. After opening any package, halva should be transferred to a glass or ceramic dish with a lid and stored exclusively in the refrigerator.

The features of the weighed product are as follows:

• when buying sunflower or peanut halva, it is important to pay attention to the absence of husks on the cut or scrap, and if it is present, it is better not to buy the product;
• a high-quality and fresh product must be fibrous, with visible fragility of pieces, light in color;
• if possible, the product should be tried - it should not be sticky.

When purchasing a product by weight, you need to check with the seller when the halva was produced, since from the moment of production its shelf life is only 1 week.

Useful qualities

The vitamin and mineral composition of halva is very useful for human body. The product has a lot of anti-aging properties, which are carried by a large concentration in the composition, and they concern not only the appearance, but also the central nervous system, due to the high content, which help to cope with depressive states and fight insomnia. Sweetness is good for the digestive organs and circulatory system. Due to the presence of the product, it helps to be absorbed, thereby strengthening bone tissue.

Seed-based halva prevents cardiovascular and oncological diseases. The sesame product is rich in, which promotes the production of collagen and prevents the decline in human vision and immunity. The product also contains components that provoke oxygen metabolism, helping the body recover after heavy physical or mental stress, as well as after stressful situations and conditions. , containing in sesame halva, stabilizes the composition of the blood, and prevents aging of the skin, hair and nails. as part of the sweetness, it stabilizes the work of the brain and has a beneficial effect on the activity of the nervous system as a whole.

The nut product has an increased benefit for people of age, as it reduces the likelihood of a heart attack or dementia, due to the presence of nuts, which perfectly stimulate memory and contribute to the normalization of activity internal organs and systems. The pistachio product is recommended for those who suffer from liver diseases, as well as for people with reduced sexual function, since pistachios are an effective aphrodisiac. Any halva can lower the level and increase the speed of metabolic processes in the human body.

Contraindications of the product and its harmful qualities

Halva is contraindicated for all those who carefully monitor their weight, since this product is high-calorie. You can not use sweetness with diabetes, pancreatitis, obesity, problems with the digestive organs or atherosclerosis. Allergy sufferers also need to be careful when using this product, because it is made from ingredients that have a high level of allergenicity.

The daily norm of halva for an adult is only 30 grams of the product, but for children under the age of 6 years, the product is not recommended to be consumed at all, since halva can damage the delicate mucous membrane of a child's mouth or milk teeth, and it can also cause overlap respiratory tract child.

Culinary use and home cooking

Such a confectionery product as halva is perfect for tea drinking in its pure form. However, it is often put into all kinds of pastries as a filling, melted to make homemade sauces, used as a base for cheesecakes or incredible and fragrant.

Homemade halva it is not at all difficult to prepare, its taste is very delicate, and you can be completely sure of the quality of the product, since for the recipe it is possible to choose only high-quality and fresh food. The main ingredients of halva at home are:

• 220 grams of sesame;
• 160 grams of sugar;
• 1 glass of flour;
• 80 milliliters;
• a handful of cashew nuts and various;
• 1 teaspoon;
• vegetable oil.

Sesame seeds are roasted in a pan until golden, and then ground in a coffee grinder. It is also necessary to do with flour - first fry, then mix with ground sesame seeds and grind the whole mixture again. Finely chop nuts and dried fruits with a knife. Milk is mixed with vanilla and sugar and brought to a boil in a separate bowl, after which it is boiled for a minute to form a thick foam. After that, the milk mixture is combined with sesame and nut mixture, thoroughly mixed, laid out in a greased form and well compacted. The form is placed in the refrigerator. After hardening, the product is ready for cutting and eating.

Halva has been known to the world since the 5th century BC.

For the first time it began to be made in Iran.

How she got to Russia is unknown to anyone.

But its popularity rapidly gained momentum and received the widest distribution.

Pleasant aroma, peculiar taste, crumbly texture - this sweetness won our hearts since childhood.

Halva is a product oriental cuisine. As you know, people of the East know a lot about taste. They put all their love and soul into the product. It is interesting to note that in the countries of the East halva is still made by hand.

What is its composition?

The main components are as follows:

soap root

Walnuts, almonds, peanuts or sunflower seeds

Halva is different. There are about a hundred of its varieties. Here are some of the most popular species that are currently offered by sweet shops:

Nut - based on nuts: almonds, pistachios, cashews

Sunflower - based on sunflower seeds

Sesame - has a bitter taste and gray color

Combined - for example, sesame seeds are combined with peanuts or seeds with candied fruit

Chocolate - glazed halva, high-calorie, but very tasty

How is it made? Grind the nuts, beat until smooth, adding caramel. And, of course, be sure to add soap root. It is he who is responsible for the correct structure of the halvah.

Halva calories

Halva is rich in carbohydrates, their content reaches 54 g per 100 g of product. They are mainly represented by sugars, which give halva a sweet, but pleasant taste. People who care about weight and slimness of the figure should definitely limit and dose the consumption of halva.

An exotic delicacy cannot boast of a low calorie content. There are up to 500 kcal per 100 g of product! The calorie content of sunflower halva even reaches 512 kcal. the smallest energy value has sesame and almond halva.

Halva: what are the benefits for the body?

This is not just a gourmet dessert. Halva is a healthy product. At the biological level, it performs an extremely important building function. What useful properties does it have?

Halva is easily absorbed and digested by the body. Rich content vegetable fats(up to 30%), it surpasses all confectionery products. It also contains amino acids, proteins and minerals.

Sunflower halva contains B vitamins. They help the body cope with stress, depression and insomnia. They also help keep teeth strong, hair shiny and skin clean. It also stabilizes blood pressure.

In addition, sunflower halvah, as proven by medical studies, inhibits the occurrence oncological diseases: tumors of the intestines, ovaries and mammary glands.

The benefits of sesame halva are confirmed by Japanese studies. They proved that sesame contains special components that help cells renew themselves and even slow down the aging process! Especially useful sesame halva will be athletes after long physical activity- restore strength, relax the body.

Halva has enormous health benefits: the best prevention of heart disease! Abundant in halva useful elements, which make up a complete set of "heart" minerals:

Manganese

Calcium

Surprisingly, a small piece of halva - and in terms of content, half of the periodic table!

Peanut halva improves memory and attention! It is also useful for the work of the heart and internal organs. protecting cells from destructive impact radicals, it seems to protect the body from the occurrence of malignant processes. Interesting fact: peanuts - a storehouse folic acid! It is especially useful for pregnant women. Such halvah will also benefit athletes - there is as much protein in it as in meat. Active proteins will help build muscle mass.

Useful property pistachio halva: helps to recover from a serious illness. Breaking down cholesterol plaques, pistachios, which form the basis of this halvah, keep the walls of blood vessels elastic and soft. A high content The fiber in pistachios stimulates the intestines and cleanses the body of toxins. Pistachio halva activates brain activity and helps to cope with heavy intellectual loads.

Halva activates the reproductive function. After all, halva is a source of complete protein, the benefits of which are especially observed during the early stages of pregnancy and the period of feeding the baby.

In halva great content linoleic and linolenic fatty acids. And they remarkably resist atherosclerosis - an ailment of the XXI century.

Tired? Tired? It seems that there is no power at all? The best medicine- halva. And replenish energy reserves, and relieve fatigue better than any pills. Going on long journeys, travelers filled their backpacks with it, because special conditions it does not require storage. In addition, by consuming halva, we activate the protective functions of the body, and resistance to infections increases.

Halva: what is the harm to health?

Harmful properties halva has almost none. It is capable of causing harm only in cases of its overuse, poor-quality workmanship, and, of course, in the presence of contraindications.

Doctors advise not to abuse halva. There is a consumption norm for an adult healthy person. It is enough to eat 25-30 g per day of this wonderful sweetness in order to experience all its benefits without harming your health.

Contraindications for consumption:

Allergic diseases

Caries, periodontal disease

Pancreatitis

Diabetes

Obesity

kidney stones or bladder

Having chronic diseases, a person can inadvertently harm his health. Often in stores there is halva with the addition of sugar molasses. People with diabetes should strictly refrain from consuming this type of halva. But do not be upset, special halva for diabetics has long been released in stores.

Halva is hard to digest in those who have dysfunctions of the digestive system. Halva is extremely harmful in acute pancreatitis and kidney disease.

In no case do not combine eating halvah with chocolate, dairy products, cheese and meat. Their heavy combination can hit the stomach.

Never buy halva with greasy spots on the surface - it is clearly stale! Be sure to pay attention to the packaging of halva. If the product is sold by weight, then its shelf life is extremely short. Halva, hidden under a layer of cardboard, can be stored for up to two months.

Manufacturers often add various additives improving the taste of products. Halva is no exception: various sweeteners, preservatives, dyes and GMOs. Often substances are added that increase the shelf life of the product. Purchase with caution! And carefully study the composition of the package.

Halva for children: useful or harmful

Halva is a product from natural ingredients. Therefore, it will not cause any harm to the child's body. Nuts in the composition of halva are rich in vitamins of groups A, B and E. And they, in turn, are necessary to strengthen immunity, maintain vision and maintain correct operation of cardio-vascular system. Children under 5-6 years old should refrain from eating sweets. Pieces of sweetness can injure the oral cavity, get stuck in the teeth and lead to caries. In addition, it is easy to choke on it.

Children over 6 years old can add halva to the diet, but be sure to monitor the dosage - 10-15 g per day. The composition of the halva must contain exclusively natural ingredients without vegetable fats and preservatives. Check if your baby is allergic to nuts or seeds. It is important that it is better not to give sunflower halva to children, since the heavy metal contained in sunflower seeds affects the central nervous system.

When collecting a child for school, instead of confectionery sweets, you can put a piece of halva in his bag. The child will be refreshed, will be active and will not get hungry for a long time! Halva will definitely become an obligatory component of a baby's afternoon snack together with a glass of milk or a cup of tea. However, it is not worth giving a child halva every day. Today - waffle sweets, tomorrow - marmalade, the day after tomorrow - halva. It is best not to exceed the norm once a week.

How not to make a mistake in choosing halva?

There are a few simple tips, guided by which you will purchase a fresh healthy product that provides health benefits:

1) The packaging is intact and sealed

2) There is no oil on the surface of the halva and dark spots

3) Halva does not crumble when cut and retains its shape

4) There are no streaks of caramel, husks and unground grains in halva

5) The shape of the halvah is even, the edges are the same

6) Halva looks dry and does not taste bitter

7) The expiration date corresponds to the declared date on the label

Halva is easy to make at home. This will require thick syrup from caramel, peanut seeds, raisins, nuts. Cook the caramel syrup, beat with a mixer until foamy, chop the nuts well and add them to the resulting mass. Leave for a while, later enjoy the taste!

Halva is a sweet that reduces appetite and improves mood! Halva is not only a dessert, but also a great snack between lunch and dinner.

Eat, enjoy and be healthy!

The first recipes for making halvah appeared in Iran more than 2.5 thousand years ago. Secret knowledge was transmitted strictly through the male line, from father to son. Artifacts found by historians helped to restore the confectionery technique - surprisingly, it has changed little over the centuries, only there are more variations.

On an industrial scale, halva is still made from three main components: protein mass (, oilseeds), caramel from sugar and molasses, foaming agent (usually marshmallow root). Sometimes the composition is diversified by adding cocoa, raisins. There are many different types of halva, but the inhabitants of our country are more accustomed to sunflower: due to the climatic features of the region, the price for this delicacy is the most affordable.

Mature sunflowers are harvested from the fields, the seeds are cleaned of impurities and peel by machine. The kernels are washed and sent to the technical processing workshop, where they are doused with hot air and fried at high temperatures(150C - 300C). So the sunflower loses moisture, but the content of useful oils in it remains the same and their properties do not weaken.

Next, the seeds are carefully ground to a state of thick homogeneous mass, combined with caramel and a foaming agent, mixed well with special mixers. Halva is ready - it is cut and packed in boxes, small packs.

Composition of sunflower halva

The high calorie content of sunflower halva (512 kcal) makes women fear for the beauty of the figure, but no one forces them to eat it in kilograms! You can afford one piece weighing 30 g per day - such a compromise will not affect your waist in any way, but it will give you strength for a long time. The second positive moment of a sweet snack is the intake of a loading dose of useful substances into the body:

• Vitamins B1, B2, E, D, PP;
• Potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium;
• polyunsaturated fatty acids;
• Phospholipids;
• Iron, copper;
• Useful vegetable.

Speaking of nutritional value sunflower sweets, it is necessary to highlight the high content of proteins - 11.6 per 100 g of product. Proteins are the building material for the cells of the whole organism, so it is difficult to overestimate the health benefits of halvah. The same serving contains 29 g of easily digestible fats and 54 g of carbohydrates. The latter indicator is important for diabetics - they are not recommended to eat ordinary sunflower halva, they can only occasionally treat themselves to a similar product on fructose.

It should be remembered that halva is very nutritious - it definitely should not be eaten at night or washed down with milk. excessive infatuation high-calorie sweetness may be harmful to the body.

The benefits of halva for women

Sunflower seeds have properties that are extremely beneficial for health, especially for women. By replacing chocolate with sunflower halva, you will soon notice that your sleep has become stronger, your mood is better, your hair is more beautiful. But first things first. So, how is halva useful for women?

• Keeps beauty. Vitamins in the composition of the oriental dessert contribute to the cellular renewal of the body, this process is the key to youth and skin tone. Regular use goodies will be an excellent prevention of early wrinkles. In addition, the nails will be noticeably strengthened, the hair will stop breaking, they will delight you with smoothness and shine;
• Helps. Of course, if there is a lot of sunflower halva, there is a risk of not getting into any dress. But in small doses, it is indispensable on the diet as alternatives to sugar and loved ones. harmful sweets- sweets, cakes, unlike which it does not incite hunger, but gives a feeling of satiety for a long time;
• Relieves PMS. A premenstrual symptom is not idle fiction, but a scientifically proven phenomenon due to a change hormonal background. Monthly suffering from symptoms of PMS, get into the habit of regularly eating sunflower halva: if the discomfort does not disappear completely, then it will noticeably weaken;
• Increases reproductive ability. Vitamin E, which is rich in sunflower halva, must be prescribed to women who have difficulty conceiving. It was not for nothing that such sweets were adored in eastern harems - each concubine sought to give birth to an heir to the Sultan;
• Source. - the period when a woman needs to receive the right amount of folic acid with food or medicine, and sunflower halva is a record holder in this matter. The second plus is that it will raise hemoglobin, and in fact many pregnant women face the problem of anemia. But all this is relevant only in the absence or contraindications, before use, you need to consult a doctor;
• Increases nutrition breast milk . Sunflower halva is very high in calories and helps to improve lactation, saturates milk with substances useful for the baby. But not all babies benefit from it, allergic reactions are possible, so introduce it into the diet very carefully.

A small piece of delicacy from sunflower seeds - great snack for a health-conscious woman: gives energy, increases brain activity, improves mood.

A little more about halva

Sunflower halva, due to the characteristics of the composition, is especially useful for certain ailments, from which it will also serve as a prophylactic:

• Disorders of the CNS. The nervous system of a woman is especially fragile, any minor stress can cause insomnia. Eat a piece of halva at night, drinking it hot herbal tea and forget about troubles until the morning;
• Oncology. According to the latest research by scientists, sunflower and all products from it inhibit the growth of oncological neoplasms in the mammary glands, ovaries, and gastrointestinal tract;
• Cardiovascular diseases. Potassium and magnesium strengthen the heart muscle, and their content is quite high in sunflower halva. Vegetable proteins reduce cholesterol levels, treat hypertension. The best prevention heart attack- a piece of sunflower dessert every morning;
• Anemia. Iron from sunflower halva is easily absorbed by the body, phosphorus stimulates blood circulation. The composition of the blood is cleansed, the process of its circulation is normalized;
• Bone fragility. Osteoporosis - diagnoses in which sunflower cake is very useful - both for women and men. The simultaneous intake of calcium with vitamin D guarantees its almost complete absorption, and hence the strengthening of bone tissue;
• Hangover. It may not be such a terrible disease, but the phenomenon is unpleasant, painful. It is noticed that halva helps the body recover after a stormy party with alcohol.

With all its positive qualities, sunflower halva is categorically contraindicated for people suffering from obesity.