Learn about the Persian spice Golpar, Persian Hogwood. Includes recipes featuring this exotic spice, including a simple dish of pomegranate with golpar.
There are some things in Farsi that easy to translate into English. Then you find these Persian proverbs and sayings and they completely lose their meaning in English. Then there are the Persian words that have absolutely no English equivalent. But, I suppose most languages have this problem with English. For example, “pomegranate” in Farsi is anar (a-naar). That’s easy. And many Persians enjoy their pomegranate with the spice, golpar. But what is golpar? Most spice companies list golpar as “angelica powder.” Wikipedia and other sources say this is not correct, that golpar is really ground seeds from Persian Hogweed (Heracleum persicum). What I do know is that Americans just don’t use this stuff. It can only be found online and in Middle-Eastern markets. Golpar is extremely aromatic and slightly bitter. Persians also like to sprinkle this spice over fava beans, torshi (pickled vegetables) and other vegetarian dishes. For those of you who have found golpar, here are some other recipes featuring this very magical spice:
- Lentil Salad (Salad-eh Adas) by My Persian Kitchen
- Persian Mixed Vegetable Pickle (Torshi Makhloot) by Turmeric and Saffron
- Olive, Pistachio and Pomegranate Salad by Najmieh Batmanglij
- Salt & Golpar (Golpar Namak) by My Persian Feast
- Persian Style Lentils (Adasi) by The Pomegranate Diaries
- Cooked Fava Beans (Baghali Pokhteh) by Fig and Quince
- Cucumber Pomegranate Salad (Salad-e Khiar-o Anar) by Kikipotamus the Hobo
- Spiced Labneh by Veggiestan
Store golpar in a glass jar, as it can totally overwhelm your pantry if kept in a ziploc bag. And did I mention it’s pomegranate season??????!!!
That must have been the spice that my wonderful Iranian friend Mehri used that I couldn’t figure out. She didn’t know what it was “in American”, she said. I’m going to try to find it here.
Ah, how I love things exotic… thank you for sharing this information. So interesting!
I’ve read about golpar but didn’t have a clue what it was (pretty typical for me, some might say). Now I do! And it’s always pomegranate season in your house!
Such an exotic spice. Need to hunt some down, soon 😉
Now I’m really curious about it. Also curious if I’ll see it used in the Persian cookbook I bought earlier this year (Food of Life). Guess I’ll have to order golpar now. 🙂
Where can I buy hogweed?
You can find Golpar at middle eastern markets or on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NOA1ZJI/?tag=wwwfamilyspic-20
Thanks for the link to my blog, but cucumber pomegranate salad with golpar is not my recipe. It also is Najmieh Batmanglij’s recipe. I get my golpar in Toronto in the Iranian neighbourhood with all the Iranian bakeries and markets.
I love Najmieh’s cookbooks. Thank you for the clarification.
guys this is the same plant more or less as cow parsnip a common wild plant in the US
I have never heard of cow parsnip. Thanks for the update! – Laura