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My mate brought some sweets from UAE, it's something like Turkish delight, I think. It says it contains tamur, among other things. I believe tamur is the main thing it's made of, but I couldn't google out what it actually is. Does it contain gluten or milk (allergy)?

Also, is Tahina Tahini?

al_quds_sweet

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dwelle
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It's dates, تمر - see Google translate (click to have it spoken - and note the primary translation is wrong, but the right alternate translations are beneath). I do not speak Arabic, but MandoMando confirms this in the comments, and this would be consistent with desserts in that general category.

That said, it's also surprising - given the bright colors, I'd have expected there to be plenty of sugar-starch gel like in Turkish delight; it's hard for food coloring to cover up the darker color of dates if they're providing the bulk of the volume. Given that the food coloring isn't listed, it sounds like starch was left off the ingredient list; I would've guessed it'd be corn starch, but MandoMando suggests it may be something else - but still probably gluten-free. (Not a guarantee, of course.)

And tahina is tahini, yes - it's even mentioned as an alternate name on Wikipedia.

Cascabel
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  • Well, not sure. That link you supplied doesn't sound much like it. But going from Tamur->Turkish->Arabic, it's something like datamur (which is dates). Thanks for help, anyway :) – dwelle Jun 04 '13 at 20:18
  • @DavidL Did you toggle to the other translation, تمر, below the big box, where it says dates, dried date, date? – Cascabel Jun 04 '13 at 20:33
  • @Jefromi the google translate link you've provided is misinterpreting dates as in calendars. if you make it singular you get date (fruit). Tamur is the plural of Tamr. I'm almost sure you're right in your translation. For a second I thought it could be Tamarind, but then made the connection that Tamarind is Tamr of India (Indian date). Neat! The OP should be safe re-gluten/milk even though the package says "contains", not ingredients (hence missing color/starch). Note: Corn is not big in that part of the world and it _could_ be an other starch. – MandoMando Jun 04 '13 at 22:07
  • @MandoMando Thanks - but for singular "date" I also don't get the right thing; it's the entity described as "history, date, story, chronicles, chronicle, pedigree". In any case, if you'd like to write a more canonical answer, that'd be great; it's how the site's supposed to work. – Cascabel Jun 04 '13 at 22:25
  • Alright, thanks for help guys. I'll wait a bit if someone has anything to say about this, then accept. – dwelle Jun 05 '13 at 09:01
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    @Jefromi can't provide canonical, kosher, or other authorities for that matter ;) only _can_ confirm that google translate maps 'dried dates' to 'التمور المجففة', and individually 'التمور' to dates and 'المجففة' to dried (no special knowledge required for this). I can also confirm that 'التمور' is pronounced 'al tamour' in English with the 'al' article being similar to El in Spanish (e.g. El mariachi). Anymore and I'd be straining my languages skills. – MandoMando Jun 05 '13 at 13:32