Knafeh: Palestinian Cheese Pastry
- **Nabulsi cheese:** Brined, semi-hard — rinsed of excess salt before use. Its melting character is specific: it becomes stringy and flowing rather than oily-liquid (like mozzarella) or set-firm (like cheddar). [VERIFY] Khan's cheese specification and substitution. - **The food colouring:** The signature orange-red colour of Nablus knafeh comes from a specific orange food colouring in the clarified butter that saturates the kadayıf. This is not garnish — it is identity. - **The syrup temperature:** Unlike Turkish baklava (cold syrup on hot pastry), Palestinian knafeh uses warm (not cold, not hot) syrup on hot pastry — the slower absorption produces a different texture from the Turkish version. - **The rose water in the syrup:** Palestinian tradition adds rose water to the sugar syrup — the floral aroma bridges the cheese and the sweet syrup. [VERIFY] Khan's syrup recipe.
Zaitoun