Scooping White Foam: The Nisholda Table
Pour a boiled sugar syrup in a thin stream into glossy beaten egg whites, and the clear liquid turns snow white. Nisholda (also Nishallo) is a traditional Uzbek sweet made from egg whites and sugar combined with an infusion of a root called yetmak.
In accounts from Uzbekistan, cold nisholda is eaten with bread such as patyr and with green tea. Some descriptions say it is so dense that a spoon stands up in the bowl scooped from a big container at the market. It is not made by melting store-bought marshmallows. The key of the handmade version is that the foaming power of the saponins in the root is supported by sugar syrup and egg white. Central Asia Travel's sweets page also describes it as a white sweet made with an infusion of yetmak or licorice.
What trips people up in a home kitchen is less how much root to use than the temperature of the syrup and the state of the foam. The root infusion builds aroma and the framework of the foam, but too much brings out a grassy smell. Boil the syrup to 112°C, cool it to 55–60°C, and add it to the foam a little at a time. Descriptions of the right state are given below so you can judge without a thermometer, but for a first try a way to check a small amount of syrup reduces failure.
Taste and texture of nisholda
| What to look at | What a good result looks like |
|---|---|
| Sweetness | A clear sugar sweetness that covers the lightness of the egg white. A little acid gives it an outline |
| Aroma | Yetmak has a mild grassy aroma. Licorice gives a stronger, liquorice-like aroma |
| Texture | Denser than cold meringue; the mark of a spoon stays for a while |
| How to eat | Scoop the chilled foam with bread and serve green tea alongside. Also suits a small after-meal sweet |
This version is scaled down to a home quantity for 4 servings, and food-grade licorice root can replace edible yetmak if you can't find it. Licorice doesn't give the same aroma or foaming, so the ingredient table also states the limits of the substitute.
Ingredients (serves 4)
Because the egg white is not fully cooked, choose pasteurized egg white whose label you can check rather than cracking shell eggs. 120 g of egg white is roughly 4 large eggs.
Yetmak and licorice
Yetmak is an edible root that has supported the foam of nisholda in Central Asia. Research sources treat yetmak (soap root) as a root of a saponin-containing plant and show its relation to the white, foaming state of nisholda. In a Fergana State University conference paper, the root of Allochrusa gypsophiloides (the older genus name also appears) is discussed.
When buying, check not only the product name but that it is clearly labeled "for food" or "edible". Never use a garden root, a herb of unknown purpose, or the root of an ornamental plant in cooking. Food-grade licorice root is an easy substitute to find, but its aroma is strong and it will not taste like the yetmak used locally. A foam made from egg white alone without root is closer to a sweet meringue than a home version of nisholda.
If you use licorice as a substitute, choose one sold as a food or dried ingredient. If a product page lists only herbal medicine or health food uses, don't use it in cooking.
Instructions
Preparation: make the root infusion and bloom the gelatin
Make the syrup and combine it with the egg white
Tips to Keep Foam and Syrup Together
Nisholda is not a sweet that sets better the more ingredients you add. The root infusion, egg white and syrup each have a separate role, so check the state of each one at a time.
- For the root infusion, put the foam's framework before aroma. If adding 15 ml loosens the foam, stop and don't add the rest. The strength changes with the origin and dryness of the yetmak, so even the same 5 g doesn't give the same concentration.
- Don't cool the syrup too far. Below 50°C, sugar tends to set when it goes into the bowl. At 65°C or above, part of the egg white sets from the heat and white grains can appear.
- Use the whisk lines as your marker. If the lines when lifted vanish right away, it is not yet time to add syrup. Whip a few more minutes on high, and if it still goes back, you may have added too much infusion.
- After adding the syrup, look at the bottom of the bowl. If clear liquid has pooled, keep whipping on high for about 10 minutes. If separation doesn't stop, it is hard to bring back to a complete foam; chill it and treat it as a sweet sauce to add to bread in small amounts, and don't mix it back into the material for remaking.
What to keep and what to change when recreating it elsewhere
To get closer to the local nisholda, keep using the root infusion, adding syrup after boiling it down, and serving it cold with bread and tea. If you can't find edible yetmak, you can switch to food-grade licorice root, but the aroma leans toward licorice. If you make it with egg white alone, the root aroma and foam support are gone, so it is easier to accept the taste difference if you don't think of it as the same as nisholda.
Dry root is hard, and breaking just 5 g with a knife makes your hand wobble. A mortar is used not to powder it but to break it into sizes that infuse easily. If you can use a thick bag and a cutting board, no special equipment is needed.
The Ramadan and Navruz Table and Market
Nisholda is known less as a small sweet served at the end of a meal than as a food prepared in quantity for days when people gather. Uzbek information sites introduce it as a sweet served with patyr at the end of the Ramadan fast, and it also appears on wedding, festival and Eid tables. Uzbekistan Travel's Ramadan article touches on household hospitality in which nisholda and bread are shared at iftar.
The white foam also appears at Navruz in spring. Central Asian sweets introductions describe a custom of selling nisholda together with sumalak, made for the March spring festival. Seeing a sweet of sugar and egg white on the same day as sumalak, which is made by long cooking of wheat sprouts and flour, shows the spread of a food culture of gathering around big pots at the turn of the season. A small everyday snack and a dish made with many hands at a festival have different roles even when both are sweet.
Regional differences show in names and how the aroma is built. In Uzbekistan it is made in the Fergana Valley, Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and elsewhere, and sweets combining egg white, sugar and a root infusion exist in neighboring parts of Central Asia. Whether to add anise or vanilla, whether to use yetmak or licorice, and how acidic to make the syrup change from household to household and maker to maker. So even if switching to food-grade licorice at home gives a different aroma, it is not necessarily a failure. But not just any plant root will do.
When eating nisholda, scooping the white foam with a torn edge of bread comes closer to the local table than drinking it straight off a spoon. Salty bread and strong green tea cut the sweetness and keep the next bite from feeling heavy. In a meal sequence, serve Uzbek plov or manti first and move nisholda to the tea time after the meal for the sweetness to shine. A menu with sour or salty dishes such as Tajik qurutob doesn't overlap in flavor direction either.
Aromas you can change in the home version
| Change | Result | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Use yetmak | Mild root aroma, closer to the local composition | People who can confirm an edible dried root |
| Use food-grade licorice root | A sweet licorice-like aroma rises | People who want easier-to-find ingredients |
| Add a little anise | A tea-sweet aroma comes forward | People who find licorice a bit heavy |
| Add a little vanilla | Rounder aroma, the root's character weakens | People adjusting the aroma for children |
Frequently Asked Questions
I can't get yetmak. Can I make it without licorice too?
You can make a white foam from egg white, sugar and citric acid alone, but without the root infusion you won't get nisholda's characteristic aroma and foam support. There is a way to use a little powdered gelatin to help it hold shape, but the taste and texture lean toward meringue. Rather than substituting a herb of unknown purpose, it is safer to make it when you can get food-grade licorice root.
The foam loosened after I added the syrup.
Possible causes are syrup that is too hot, pouring too fast, under-whipped egg white, or grease left in the bowl. First whip on high for about 10 minutes and check whether clear liquid remains at the bottom. If separation continues, it won't return to a complete foam; refrigerate it and switch to using it the same day in small amounts with bread, and don't treat it as a sweet to keep. Next time, keep the syrup at 55–60°C and the pouring time at 5–7 minutes.
Can I whip it by hand?
You can, but after combining the egg white and root infusion you need to keep whipping for a long time while pouring in syrup in a thin stream. Holding the bowl with one hand and whisking with the other makes the pouring difficult, so it is easier to keep temperature control if two people work or you use an electric hand mixer. The point is not to buy a hand mixer but to have a tool that lets you keep going without stopping partway through whipping.
How long does it keep?
Even with pasteurized egg white, store home-made nisholda in the refrigerator (4°C or below) and plan to finish it by the next day. The texture changes over time as water separates. Keep the time at room temperature short and don't leave it out on the table. Freezing tends to separate the water in the foam, so freezing isn't suitable. For safe handling of egg dishes, you can also check the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's egg safety guide.
Can I reduce the sweetness?
If you greatly reduce the sugar, the syrup can't support the water in the foam and the mound won't hold even after chilling. Start with 360 g, and if you want a lighter sweetness, it is more practical to serve more bread, make the green tea stronger, or take smaller scoops. Adjusting through the combination you eat with doesn't upset the state of the foam as changing the syrup ratio does.
Sources
Dishes and preparation:
- Muslim Board of Uzbekistan. "Nisholda". https://www.muslim.uz/uz/e/post/32281-nisholda?page=2&per-page=1 (accessed 20 August 2026)
- Doca Tours. "Step-by-step instruction for cooking Uzbek traditional sweet Nishollo." https://doca-tours.com/step-by-step-instruction-for-cooking-uzbek-traditional-sweet-nishollo/ (accessed 20 August 2026)
- Central Asia Travel. "Oriental sweets." https://www.centralasia-travel.com/en/countries/uzbekistan/cuisine/oriental-sweets (accessed 20 August 2026)
- Uzbekistan Academy. "Nisholda taomi". https://uzbekacademy.uz/oz/article/2026/03/17/nisholda-taomi (accessed 20 August 2026)
- Uzbekistan Travel. "5 reasons to celebrate Ramadan in Uzbekistan." https://uzbekistan.travel/en/o/reasons-celebrate-ramadan-uzbekistan/ (accessed 20 August 2026)
- Fergana State University. "Farg'ona konferensiyasi materiallari". https://api.scienceweb.uz/storage/publication_files/6413/16789/6586839fcd192___Farg%27ona%20konf.%202021%2023-noyabr.pdf (accessed 20 August 2026)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "What You Need to Know About Egg Safety." https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/what-you-need-know-about-egg-safety (accessed 20 August 2026)
