Cooking samanou in Shahreza is more common in winter, on the nights of the death or birth anniversaries of the Imams, and in the last week of the year for the Nowruz table.
This ritual is held in Shahreza by setting up about 500 samanou pots.
One important point in cooking this kind of samanou is that the type of wheat grain used for it is thin and long, similar to rice grains.
For each occasion of cooking samanou, about 300 kg of wheat is used.
One-third of this amount is left in a damp cloth for about four days to germinate.
When the wheat roots become white, and before turning green, they are removed from the fabric and placed in an open space to dry.
The germinated and dried wheat is then ground along with the other two-thirds of wheat.
The flour obtained from the germinated wheat is known as sohan flour and makes samanou sweet.
Lighting a fire with firewood or gas, pouring water into a copper pot, and adding flour little by little to the pot are the next steps in cooking samanou.
About 12 hours later, the mixture of water and flour becomes doughy and turns red.
At this time, some water is added to it to become diluted and then begin to boil once more.
This is known as syrup administering, and each cook may repeat it several times during the first 18 hours, depending on cooking conditions.
In fact, the reddening process is done to make the colour of samanou brown and more pleasing.
After about 18 hours of cooking, the fire is extinguished, and samanou is left to brew in the copper pot for about 8 hours, and the next morning, it is ready for distribution and consumption.
Sweet almonds are also added to samanou, especially for the Nowruz table as a symbol of blessing and prosperity.
