An old Iranian proverb says, “If you want a wife who cooks well, choose a wife from northern Iran.” This proverb beautifully expresses the diversity of foods and their delicious flavors in northern Iran;

The choice of Rasht, the capital of Gilan province in northern Iran, on the UNESCO Creative Culinary Cities list since 2015 is due to this diversity of foods and flavors.

Due to the use of aromatic plants in Burunda olives, it also has aromatherapy properties (Al-Jazeera)

Garnish on the heritage list

Burardah olive is one of the delicious appetizers that are served alongside food in northern Iran, and it has been registered on the National Heritage List of Gilan Province since 2014, and it takes its place on the table of Iranians, as they cannot visit the northern cities without tasting it, and they also carry it with them as gifts for their families and friends.

Gilani kitchen

Parvardeh olives are served with the main flavors in Gilani cuisine, such as pomegranate molasses, walnuts and aromatic vegetables.

The ease of making it and its delicious taste have contributed to its wide spread in all Iranian regions, compared to other foods and appetizers.

The Messenger of Haydarnejad, the seller of olives in Gilan, asserts that the people of the north do not prefer to use olives alone, but rather they tend to use olive with roses.

And Hyderinejad - to Al-Jazeera Net - points out that Brourdh olives have existed since ancient times, as there were no good ways to sweeten the olives, so people used to mix olives with pomegranate molasses to get rid of its bitterness.

After that, they added onions, aromatic vegetables, and then walnuts, until it became what it is today.

Brarda olives are served with the main flavors in the Gilani cuisine, such as pomegranate molasses, walnuts and aromatic vegetables (Al-Jazeera)

It suits all tastes

Ahmadinejad continues that the components of olive oil were chosen to suit all people's tastes and mixes, because the walnut has a warm mood, compared to the pomegranate molasses, which is characterized by its cold mood, so the mixes are equal here to be moderate to suit all ages.

Processing olives and selling their products in northern Iran has created job opportunities for many families and factories, and significantly increased the area planted with olive trees in recent years.

Dr. Roshen Babayi Hemmati, a faculty member at the Gilan Studies Research Institute, says that there is no written history of the emergence of Burarda olives, but its main source appears to be the city of Rudbar in Gilan Province, northern Iran.

Burarda olive is one of the delicious appetizers served alongside food in northern Iran (Al-Jazeera)

Its benefits

Dr. Babayi points out - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that Bordeh olive is a very rich appetizer because it contains all the benefits of olives, walnuts, pomegranate and garlic, and many people eat it because of its use in the "diet" diets.

Babayi stated that due to the use of aromatic plants in the manufacture of Brorda olives, it also has aromatherapy properties, and all these reasons make people love this type of olives and want to eat it again after tasting it for the first time.

How to prepare it

As for the method of preparing olive oil, it is as follows:

We are preparing half a kilo of pitted olives.

Next, mix 150 grams of chopped walnuts, 3 chopped garlic cloves and 100 grams of pomegranate molasses.

A spoonful of dry or fresh aromatic plants are added to the previous mixture, such as: Heracleum persicum, mint or parsley or any local aromatic plants, until we get a paste to mix with the olives.

According to personal taste, you can change the mentioned quantities, or add half a cup of pomegranate juice or pomegranate seeds, or two tablespoons of olive oil and a little salt.

If we want to have light-colored roses, we use walnuts a lot, and if we like it in a dark color, we add pomegranate molasses to it.

In the end, Brourdh olive is placed in an airtight container and kept in the refrigerator. It should be consumed within a week or 10 days at the latest.