Toum facts for kids
A bowl of salsat toum with a pestle
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| Region or state | Middle East |
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| Main ingredients | Garlic |
Salsat toum, often just called toum, is a yummy garlic sauce. Its name, toum, simply means 'garlic' in Arabic. This creamy sauce is very popular in the Middle East, especially in a region called The Levant, which includes countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
Toum is a bit like aioli, another garlic sauce from France. But toum has way more garlic! It's usually made by crushing fresh garlic with salt, then slowly mixing in olive oil or other vegetable oil, and a little bit of lemon juice. Traditionally, people use a wooden mortar and pestle to mix it all together until it's smooth and thick.
This delicious garlic sauce is often used as a dip. It's super tasty with french fries, grilled chicken, and even artichoke. You'll also find toum inside many sandwiches, especially chicken wraps, in the Levant.
Different Kinds of Toum Sauce
There are a few ways to make toum, and some places have their own special versions.
Minty Toum
In the town of Zgharta in Lebanon, they like to add fresh mint leaves to their toum. This version is called zeit wa toum, which means 'oil and garlic' in Arabic. The mint gives it a fresh, cool flavor.
Thickening Toum
Sometimes, people add other ingredients to make the sauce even thicker. They might use eggs or labneh, which is a type of thick yogurt. These additions change the texture and can make the sauce even creamier.
See also
In Spanish: Tum para niños
