The nuts were ground beyond recognition and were often mixed with fillers that added nothing to the flavor or texture of the traditional sweets.
The pastries were also far too sweet for his liking.
“Baklava has delicate feelings,” Marhaf told a New York Times reporter while standing in the kitchen of his Bay Ridge, Brooklyn home in early February.
Before 76-year-old Marhaf and his 69-year-old wife Nawal fled Syria last year they had owned and operated a bakery in the city of Hama for more than 30 years.
The decision to leave Syria was not an easy one and was only made after years of making the best out of a difficult situation as they struggled to survive in what appears to be a war with no end.
Back in Hama, the couple had worked together baking bread, cookies and wedding cakes, and like everyone else who chose to stay in Syria, they adapted to the ebb and flow and the deterioration of their circumstances as a result of the war.
When internally displaced refugees from other besieged areas of the country fled to Hama, Marhaf and Nawal did their best to feed them.
When bullets pierced their windows, the couple slept on the floor where it was safer.
Sometimes they baked whatever they could with the ingredients available to them and other times were forced to resort to making purchases on the black market just to keep up the appearance of business as usual.
Anything they could manage to bake, no matter how small, provided a sense of normalcy in the midst of chaos for themselves and the people living in their neighborhood.
“We always wanted to keep something in the windows,” Nawal told NYT.
Both of them had been born and raised in Hama. They had married, raised four children of their own and built a thriving business in the city and had no desire to leave.
But when the Assad regime’s assault on the area finally managed to cut off all supplies of flour and butter, the couple’s efforts to maintain a semblance of normal life came to an end and they knew it was time to leave their beloved bakery and the city that they loved.
Of the couple’s four sons, two were already living in America while the other two had remained in another area of the Middle East.
When their parents first arrived in the U.S last March, they stayed with their son who lives in Albany. They were happy to be finally living in a safe place but were not used to having nothing to do.
“We like to stay busy,” Nawal had told NYT.
Not comfortable with sitting still for too long, Marhaf spent many hours walking and getting connected with his new home. After he and his wife finally moved into a place of their own he returned to doing what he had always done in Syria — he started baking.
Marhaf baked tray after tray of buttery walnut filled baklava and Nawal made the slightly sweet cheesy desserts that Hama had been famous for.
They introduced the citizens of New York to their Syrian sweets at outdoor markets and since the beginning of the year have started a website called Syrian Sweet Refuge for selling their sweet treats online.
As the demand for their products continues to grow, the couple has made plans to rent an industrial kitchen in Sunset Park when necessary to facilitate the filling of large orders.
Their youngest son, who had dropped out of school to help his parents run the bakery back in Hama, had been approved with his wife and son for resettlement in the U.S.— but those plans were put on hold by immigration officials after Trump signed the travel ban on January 27.
While they wait for him and his family to be able to join them, Marhaf focuses on what he believes to be the only proper way to make baklava— chopping walnuts by hand to maintain their crunch and seasoning them with just a touch of powdered sugar and orange blossom water.
Adapted from a New York Times story.
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