Heritage
Iraqi Geymar vs Clotted Cream and Qishta: What's the Difference?
Kabab Erbil · September 29, 2026
Kabab Erbil · September 29, 2026
Geymar (قيمر) is Iraq's thick breakfast cream, made from buffalo or cow's milk. It is a close relative of English clotted cream and Turkish kaymak, and denser than the Levantine qishta, which is lighter and often used in desserts. Iraqis eat geymar spread on hot kahi, or with date molasses and bread.
A thick layer of cream that forms on milk as it is heated slowly and left to set, then lifted off. Traditionally it is made from buffalo milk, which is richer than cow's. Ours is cow's or buffalo milk depending on supply, from a specialist supplier.
They are cousins. English clotted cream is also made by heating cream and letting a thick crust form, and the texture is similar. The difference is the milk — clotted cream is cow's milk — and the way each is eaten: scones and jam in England, hot kahi and date syrup in Iraq.
Almost — it is the same word travelling across the region. Turkish kaymak is, like geymar, traditionally made with water buffalo milk and eaten at breakfast with honey.
Qishta (قشطة), the Levantine cream, is softer and lighter, and often thickened so it holds its shape in sweets such as knafeh and atayef. Geymar is eaten for itself, at breakfast.
| Cream | Where | Milk | How it is eaten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geymar | Iraq | Buffalo or cow | On hot kahi, with honey or date syrup |
| Clotted cream | England | Cow | With scones and jam |
| Kaymak | Turkey, the Balkans | Traditionally buffalo | At breakfast, with honey |
| Qishta | The Levant | Cow | In desserts and on sweets |
Buffalo milk carries more fat than cow's milk, so the cream is thicker and richer. In Iraq, buffalo herding centres on the southern marshes, where drought now threatens the herders' way of life — and with it, the most prized geymar. Shafaq News describes geymar as a taste of home passed down in Iraqi families.
Most famously on hot kahi — how to eat kahi and geymar explains the ritual. Otherwise with date molasses and bread: our geymar with date molasses is AED 60, and kahi with geymar AED 65.
It is another spelling of geymar — our guide to Iraqi spellings lists the rest.
No. It is mild and milky; the sweetness comes from the honey or date syrup eaten with it.