Wheat Berry Dessert (Burbara)

A Middle Eastern dessert that is usually made and enjoyed on December 4th to mark the countdown to Christmas. It’s so easy to make, made with natural ingredients (don’t count the candy!), and it’s naturally vegan. This porridge-like dessert will definitely warm you up on a cold day!

What is Burbara? And what is Saint Barbara’s day?

Burbara بربارة is a porridge-like dessert that’s made by Middle Eastern Christians every year on December 4th to celebrate Saint Barbara’s day.

As I researched Saint Barbara’s story, I found that she disguised herself in different characters as she fled from the Romans who were prosecuting her for believing in God. It is also said that her father who was a rich pagan; kept her locked up in a tower because she was really beautiful. When she shared her thoughts with him about believing in a creator, he decided to kill her.

So she ran away from her father, and went through a field of newly planted wheat and witnessed a miracle as the wheat instantly grew to hide her steps.

Now, Saint Barbara’s day is celebrated annually by getting the family together to enjoy this delicious wheatberry dessert.

Ingredients needed to make this wheat berry porridge/dessert

To make Burbara, you will need:

• Wheat berries
• Cinnamon sticks and aniseed stars.
• Ground cinnamon, ground anise, and ground fennel.
• Sugar, or sweetener of choice.
• Dried fruits, I usually go for raisins and dried apricots.

How to make Burbara?

The wheat berries must be soaked overnight, then boiled until tender.

The ratio of wheat to water is generally 1:3, so if I’m making 1 cup of wheat berries then I’ll add 3 cups of water. However, I strongly recommend that you keep checking on your wheat berries every 10-15 minutes in case you need to add a little bit of more boiling water.

You will also need to give the wheat berries a stir every now and then, as they’re known for liking to stick to the bottom of the pot!

So, just soak the wheat berries overnight then wash them under cold water until the running water is clear. In a pot, boil in water along with the whole spices. When the wheat berries are half cooked, add the dried fruit and ground spices and cook for 15-20 more minutes or until the wheat is tender and cooked through. The whole cooking process normally takes between 30-45 minutes.

Keep in mind that the wheat berries should and will stay chewy, that’s just the natural texture of the wheat.

Now comes my favorite part, the toppings!

Burbara toppings

The possibilities are endless, but these are the most popular toppings:

• Desiccated or shredded coconut
• Nuts – Walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, you name it!
• Pomegranate seeds.
• Fennel candy and candied chickpeas.

Coated fennel candy

When I was researching coated fennel candy to write this post, I found out that fennel candies are popular in India. I always thought that it was a Middle Eastern thing, but it looks like they created these candies and shipped them to the Middle East.

It also reminds me that we saw them in Indian restaurants a few times, and people usually have them after meals as mouth refreshers. They’re called Mukhwas!

So these coated fennel candies remind me of my childhood, we always had them around but usually used them to top different desserts such as burbara, snooneyeh, karawya, and rice puddings.

This recipe is also called Snooneyeh in the Middle East when it’s prepared after a child gets his/her first tooth. So to celebrate, snooneyeh is made and also served with nuts, dried fruit, and candy.