Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Jallab
A smoky-sweet date and grape-molasses drink over crushed ice, topped with pine nuts and raisins.
Lebanese · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 0 min
~156 cal · 1g protein · 31g carbs · 4g fat · 0g fiber · 27g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Jallab is a beloved drink of the Levant, especially at Ramadan, a syrup of date and grape molasses infused with and a hint of smoke, diluted with water and served over crushed ice, topped with pine nuts and raisins. Deep, dark, and sweet, it is deeply refreshing.
The distinctive smoky note traditionally comes from fumigating the syrup with Arabic incense, a technique that gives jallab its unmistakable aroma. and grapes, ancient fruits of the region, form its sweet, fruity base.
Sold by street vendors and served to break the fast across Lebanon and the Levant, jallab is festive, cooling, and nostalgic.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1/2 cup jallab syrup (date, grape, and carob molasses)
Hard to find? date molasses and grape molasses in equal parts, with a drop of rosewater - homemade jallab in all but the smoke; the bottled syrup gets part of its depth from being smoked with incense
3 cups cold water
1 tsp
to serve crushed ice
1.5 tbsp pine nuts, to top
1.5 tbsp golden raisins, to top
Instructions
1
Stir the jallab syrup, water, and rosewater together.
2
Taste and adjust the sweetness with more syrup or water.
3
Fill glasses with crushed ice.
4
Pour the jallab over.
5
Float pine nuts (or pepitas) and raisins on top and serve with a spoon.
Beirut tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Beirut. Beirut sets the table but did not invent it. Zahle, up in the Beqaa Valley, is the town known as the home of mezza, where the practice of ordering thirty small plates and sitting for four hours is said to have taken shape. Lebanon's official national dish is kibbeh, which it shares with Syria, and hummus and falafel are contested regionally, so neither belongs to any one city.
🗺️
Lebanon. Lebanese villages still put up the mouneh, the year's provisions, over the summer: olives, jams, tomato paste, dried aubergine, vine leaves, and kishk, cracked wheat fermented with milk and yoghurt then dried on rooftop sheets and ground to a powder that turns into soup all winter. Zaatar is picked wild, dried, and ground with sumac and sesame.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Lebanon
MujadaraLentils and rice under a deep pile of slow-caramelized onions, the Levant’s humble masterpiece.
Manakish Za'atarFlatbread baked with a fragrant za'atar-and-olive-oil topping, the Levantine morning staple.
FalafelCrisp herb-flecked chickpea fritters tucked into pita with tahini, pickles, and salad, a Levantine street classic.
Browse all Lebanon recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Lebanon meal
MujadaraDinner
KnafehDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Mote con HuesilloChile
Mango LassiIndia
JekaroMarshall Islands
ChichemePanama
DawetSuriname
Thai Iced TeaThailand
Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Jallab?
A smoky-sweet date and grape-molasses drink over crushed ice, topped with pine nuts and raisins.
Where does Jallab come from?
Jallab is a Lebanese dish from Beirut, Lebanon.
Can Jallab be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Jallab recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Jallab safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Jallab take to make?
About 5 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.