What is Turkish delight?
Turkish delight, or lokum, is a soft, chewy sweet made from sugar and starch, often flavored with rosewater, lemon or mastic and studded with nuts. It is dusted with powdered sugar.
Turkish delight is made by slowly cooking sugar, water and cornstarch until the mixture thickens into a gel. Flavorings and nuts, such as pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts, are added. It is poured into trays to set, then cut into cubes and coated with powdered sugar or coconut to stop the pieces sticking together.
Lokum became popular in the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul confectioner Hacı Bekir, who opened his shop in 1777, is credited with helping to perfect and popularize it, and the shop still operates. Turkish delight became famous in Europe in the 1800s, when a British traveler brought it home and named it Turkish delight.
Around the world
Turkish delight is enjoyed across Turkey, the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus and the Middle East. It became widely known among English-speaking readers through C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which the White Witch tempts Edmund with it.
Did You Know?
The Turkish word lokum is believed to come from an Arabic phrase meaning a morsel for the throat.