Imqaret

Imqaret (singular maqrut) are Malta's classic fried sweet: a strip of pastry wrapped around a filling of dates, cut into pieces and deep-fried until crisp outside and soft inside. Visit Malta describes them simply as deep-fried date-filled pastries. Every maker has a version of the dough and the filling, and the pastries are eaten hot, straight from the fryer.

Imqaret belong to the festa. Visit Malta lists them, with the nougat called qubbajt, among the sweet street foods sold at village feasts, when parishes celebrate their patron saint with processions, band marches and fireworks. Through the summer, stalls frying imqaret are part of the scene around the parish church, and the smell of hot oil and dates carries down the street. They are also sold year-round from kiosks and some confectioners.

Where to try it

• At village festas through the summer, and check the food stalls at the Feast of Santa Marija.
• From kiosks and stalls in Valletta and town centres across Malta.
• In Gozo, where the village feasts of summer bring the same stalls.

Buy them hot and eat them on the spot, as they soften quickly. They are rich and sweet. Vegetarians should check the dough as well as the frying fat, since some recipes use lard. For the sweet that marks Christmas rather than summer, see qaghaq tal-ghasel, the Maltese honey rings.