There’s something in this Saudi Gazette article that’s a little peculiar. It’s one word. See if you can find it…
Then see if you can explain it!
Rising popularity of soubiya in Ramadan
Muhammad Al-OmairiMAKKAH – The consumption of soubiya, a drink once the preserve of Makkah and Jeddah, is becoming something of a tradition at Ramadan tables around the rest of the Kingdom and the Gulf.
The beverage contains a high concentration of starches, and was originally made by soaking barley. These days, however, it is more often made from dried bread and soaked raisins. Added to these are barley, cinnamon, cardamom, water and sugar, all of which are blended and fermented for up to three days.
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September:10:2009 - 05:43
May I have 3 words please? “fermented” “fermenting” and
“intoxicant”? AKA “alcohol” or getting there?
Nice addition of soaked raisins–speeds the alcoholization process because of the sugar. Soubiya made with soaked bread and raisins (soaked barley raisin loaf?) sounds like a nice, light, thirst-quenching beer/wine cooler! Too bad I don’t drink alcohol.
Watch the yeast/sugar content though–can give too much foam on pouring (father’s home brew during simultaneous major city employer/brewer’s retail strike–bad combo, many men at home with access to a kitchen and a bathtub).
Great article and “quizz”! Puts the fun in soubiya for those of us who don’t drink it.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
That particular recipe–bread and raisins–is what’s used in prison ‘hootch’.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
“Other benefits follow chilling and fermenting which increase the content of lactic acid. ‘It’s not the kind of thing you want to keep in the fridge for weeks and then serve to your family, though,’ advises one street vendor. ‘If stored for long enough it can turn into intoxicant.’”
LOL!
I’m convinced soubiya started as a mash that was traditionally turned into a alcoholic beverage. You put soubiya in a carboy (which is easily made with two plastic bottles, tape and a PVC tube) for 10 days or so and it will become a beverage about as alcoholic as beer. I wonder if people do this in KSA or if they prefer to head straight to the hard stuff (arak, which is a hard, raw distillate like Everclear alcohol).
In any case this is a perfect example of the naivete of Saudi journalists when writing about drugs and alcohol, like when they call hashish a narcotic or confuse fermentation with distilling, or, in this case, being seemingly unaware of the definition of “fermenting” a liquid. They also often report the confiscation of tobacco products (like the home-made dipping tobacco sold in many baqalas) as drug busts when in fact they are commercial violations linked to the ban on home-made tobacco products, which are very common in the KSA. (A lot of Saudis dip tobacco and another nicotine-containing ground nut used in East Africa.)
One thing that confuses me is Captagon, which is a commercial name for fenethyllene. But Captagon isn’t commercially produced anymore, is it? I don’t think it’s used anywhere in the world as a treatment for ADD. I suspect it’s a counterfeit that is packaged under the name Captagon because that’s then name most people recognize. I wonder where it’s produced.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
I’m sure everyone here knows it but “alcohol” is derived from the Arabic and they were among the first “fermenters”.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
A quick google search suggests “Captagon” is being produced illegally in that people are capitalizing on the name and look with other easier to make amphetamines, and in the sense that illegal fenethylline is also still being made, and including in some of the “Captagon” tablets. Abuse of “Captagon” is greatest in Arab countries apparently. It has been illegal to produce fenethylene/Captagon since 1986, and is not used currently to treat ADD (sometimes older meds are produced in minimal quantities for those who cannot use anything else–but this is extremely rare).
September:10:2009 - 05:43
What is the CPVPV doing ?
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Sipping soubiya?
September:10:2009 - 05:43
LOL!
September:10:2009 - 05:43
the CPVPV are NOT sipping soubya, i just discovered recently that there is no soubya in Riyadh! its a strictly Jeddah/Makkah beverage regardless of what the article mentioned.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Thanks for clearing that up!
September:10:2009 - 05:43
This is a beverage that is made at home not sold on shelves. I know a few people who claim their in-laws drink it and they are in Riyadh.
I think a catchy marketing phrase could be:
“Who do you know who’s sipping soubya?”
September:10:2009 - 05:43
The CPVPV are not outside Riyadh???
September:10:2009 - 05:43
there is CPVPV outside riyadh, but the ones in jeddah are a tad softer. proly due to the soubya.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
They need to drink more.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Ah, Soubia!
Every Ramadan we Hijazis get these strange looks when we tell them about our favorite Ramadan drink! To clear things up, off the shelf soubia is not alcoholic as it rarely gets fermented for more than a day. Just enough to give it its characteristic taste and fizz, but not enough to give it any real alcoholic content.
That doesn’t mean that moonshine soubia doesn’t exist. I used to know a shop that sold what they termed yesterday’s soubia, which I admit is a clever obfuscated name. I also confess to have drank a pot of home made soubia that was accidently brewed for longer that is usual. Me and the guys got tipsy and spent the whole night giggling at everything.
The (non-Hijazi) religious elite are a bit wary of soubia. They know the process can lead to alcohol, but most of the times isn’t, so they’ve never been able to actually ban it. Although I remember a fatwa once that if you ever drink soubia, drink it with its (supposed) health benefits in mind, just in case a tiny bit of alcohol slipped in somehow!
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Given the way that things like food flavorings are regulated (i.e. banned) because they contain alcohol, I’m sort of surprised that even a minuscule amount in soubia would be permitted. By the time food flavorings get spread out in a recipe, the alcoholic content is closer to philosophical than measurable.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
I think it’s like smoking. Fatwas abound about how smoking is “haraam”, yet they are sold everywhere because they’re just too damn popular.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
By that line of reasoning, pre-marital sex would be winked at!
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Halal soubia- for medicinal purposes only!
John– are you suggesting that pre-marital sex for medicinal purposes only would be halal?
I have learned the hard way that any alcohol in a food preparation, even though burned off in the cooking/baking remains haram.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
Damn it Chiara.. that means I will never get the taste of an actual Tiramisu cake like other people in the world enjoy it! I might as well use it with sobiuya! Also its sold in a lot of places around the kingdom.. you only have to find some “foal” (fava beans paste/nan bread place) and surely you will find a person selling sobiya next door.
September:10:2009 - 05:43
DW–alas the tragedy goes beyond Tiramisu, to Black Forest Cake (Kir), Rum cake (self evident), liqueur filled chocolates, mince meat pies/tarts, flambee’d crepes, or flambee’d anything (cherries jubilee, etc) orange cake with Cointreau… good thing my own alcohol policy allows for “burned off”. I attended a family mixed wedding where the hosts in deference to their Muslim-inlaws, left the wines and champagne in “la cave”, cooked veal not pork, but unfortunately could only find kosher not halal meat, so half the guests stuck to vegetables only, and then served a huge home made Black Forest Cake as dessert, refused again. Son-in-law should have been more culturally helpful!
Somehow it strikes me that Vatican-regulated sex would be halal. I’m not sure why this comes to mind, nor how to get it out of my mind–quick! LOL