M

Last month, on Nov. 17 marked National Baklava Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the dessert whose origins are commonly debated.

Some historians believe that it originated with the Greek “placenta cake” while others claim that the dessert comes from either Turkey or Persia.

In its most basic form, the sweet treat consists of three components: thin layers of Phyllo dough, a type of nut, most commonly either pistachios or walnuts, and honey or a flavored syrup.

For those who grew up eating and making the dish, another ingredient gets mixed in: tradition.

Mariyana Kircheva now lives in Manchester but was raised in Bulgaria. She says just the scent of the dessert takes her back home.

“Every time I make baklava it reminds me of my country,” says Kircheva. “When I take it out of the oven and cover it with syrup, the aroma reminds me of Bulgaria. We have coffee shops in Bulgaria that serve desserts, and if they offer baklava, you’d know it by the aroma which greets you when you enter. It’s a very specific aroma that’s born the moment the syrup combines with the dry portion of the baklava that was just baked.”

Though Kircheva has made the dish many times over the years and become well-versed on preparing it, she remembers her first time not going as smoothly as it does now.

“When I first baked baklava, I was 20-years-old,” she recalled. “I layered the phyllo dough sheets, sprinkled with butter, and nuts, and I baked the baklava without cutting it into pieces first. That’s a big mistake because it doesn’t cook evenly if you don’t cut it before baking, and you can’t really cut it well after it’s baked because the phyllo dough sheets get completely crushed. So it wasn’t a very successful first try. We still ate it though, even if it wasn’t very pretty.”

There have been many variations of baklava that have come along. Some prefer to change ingredients and others have used the dish as inspiration in other desserts like cake and cheesecake. Kircheva says she prefers her baklava a little more straight-forward.

“Some people use a variety of nuts including pistachios and/or hazelnut and honey to sweeten it. But I like a simple baklava, one that’s made with walnuts, simple syrup, just sugar and water, lemon juice, and vanilla,” she explained. “In Bulgaria, we serve it cold. Some people make it juicier, and some use a thicker syrup. I prefer thicker syrup, which makes it a bit crunchy.”

Baklava is typically reserved for special occasions like holidays and milestones in Bulgaria, according to Kircheva. Her daughter, Elena Cawley, recalls her first time making baklava going in a similar fashion to her mother.

“The first time she taught me to make baklava, the layers tore to pieces,” says Cawley also noting that she and her mother differ in their preference on the dish. “When my mom and I make baklava together, we usually disagree a bit. She always wants to use more sugar than I do.”

Cawley moved to the United States in 2005, and her mother came several years later in 2012 when Cawley had her first child. Cawley says she enjoyed helping her mother make the dessert when she would go to the Manchester Community Market in 2022.

“It was always fun to listen to my mom explaining to local folks how she made it and what ingredients she used,” she says. “Locals at the market were always so kind and curious.”