What is Qamar al-Din?
The Arabi Pantry
What is Qamar al-Din?
قمر الدين
Apricots pressed into amber sheets — and the drink that means Ramadan to a hundred million people.
Somewhere on this table is the pitcher. There is always the pitcher.
Qamar al-din — 'moon of the faith' — is apricot leather with a homeland: the apricots of the Damascus orchards, cooked, pressed into translucent amber sheets, and dried. Eaten as-is it's a serious fruit leather. But its true form is liquid: sheets torn into hot water in the afternoon, left to dissolve, blended smooth, chilled — and poured at maghrib into the glasses of everyone who fasted.
No drink is more tied to a month. The first taste of qamar al-din each year does for Ramadan what the first cold night does for winter: announces it. Diaspora families who can't find the sheets locally describe the absence the way other people describe missing a person — which is roughly why we carry it.
How to use it
- The Ramadan pitcher: tear sheets into hot water, dissolve, blend, chill — see the Iftar Table
- Snipped into squares as fruit leather, with walnuts
- Melted into apricot pudding (mahalabia's orange cousin)
- A glaze for chicken, where its sweet-tart earns savory work
The Jar Itself
The pitcher's ingredients, plus the dates that open the meal.
El Shalati apricot paste — the sheets$9.60
Dates — the other half of the ritual$25.99
Al Reef Organic Date Syrup$19.99
Free U.S. shipping on orders over $75.
Questions people actually ask
How do I make the qamar al-din drink?
Tear about half a pound of sheets into 4 cups of hot water, let them soften 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge), blend smooth, sweeten only if needed, and chill well. Some houses add a drop of blossom water; all houses argue about thickness.
What does qamar al-din taste like?
Concentrated apricot — honeyed and bright with a gentle tartness — thicker and rounder than juice. Cold, at sunset, after sixteen hours of fasting, it tastes approximately like mercy.
Why is it called 'moon of the faith'?
The romantic etymology ties it to the Ramadan moon that starts the month; a competing story credits a person's name. The drink has outlived the argument.