What is Baharat (7 Spice)?
The Arabi Pantry
What is Baharat (7 Spice)?
بهارات
The blend that answers 'what's in this?' at every table in the Levant.
Baharat's day job: making kofta taste like kofta.
Baharat just means 'spices' — and that plainness is the point. It is the region's default warm blend, the one already in the cook's hand before the recipe is chosen: black pepper and allspice at the core, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, cardamom, and nutmeg negotiating around them. Seven is traditional; every spice house counts differently and all of them are right.
It is the background hum of the entire savory repertoire — the warmth in kofta, the depth in kibbeh filling, the seasoning rubbed into maqluba's meat, the reason warak dawali's rice tastes finished. If a Levantine dish tastes gently, unplaceably warm, you have met baharat.
How to use it
- The backbone of kofta and kibbeh
- The rice seasoning in warak dawali
- Rubbed on the meat for maqluba and roasts
- A pinch in tomato sauces and lentil soups when they taste unfinished
The Jar Itself
The default jar, and the specialists beside it.
Zdan 7 Spice — the house blend$6.99
Makluba blend — its rice-day cousin$6.99
Ziyad Sumac 12oz Spices$8.49
Free U.S. shipping on orders over $75.
Questions people actually ask
What is in baharat / seven spice?
Cores of black pepper and allspice, warmed with cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, cardamom, and nutmeg — ratios vary by country, city, and grandmother, in that order of authority.
Is baharat spicy-hot?
No — it is warm, not hot. The blend is aromatic and rounded; any heat in the dish comes from elsewhere (usually the shatta on the table).
What can I use instead of baharat?
A rough field substitute is allspice plus black pepper with pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg. But the jar costs a few dollars and finishes half this site's recipes, so the substitute is a jar of baharat.