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How is Turkish delight made?
Turkish delight is a jelly traditionally made without gelatine, and it has been made for centuries. Here is how it is made, how the British chocolate version came about, and the flavours that make it distinctive.
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Turkish delight, also called lokum, is a family of sweets based on a gel of starch and sugar. It is traditionally set with starch rather than gelatine.
How it is made
- Cook the gel. Sugar and starch are cooked together with water into a thick gel: see starch jelly sweets explained
- Flavour. Traditional flavours are rosewater, mastic gum, bergamot orange or lemon, and cinnamon and mint are also common.
- Enrich. Premium varieties bind large amounts of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts in the gel.
- Set and cut. The gel is left to set and then cut into small cubes.
- Dust. The cubes are dusted with icing sugar, copra, which is dried coconut, or powdered cream of tartar, to stop them clinging to each other.
An old recipe
Sweets like Turkish delight are old. A Byzantine description speaks of a starch candy of sugar dissolved with rosewater, yellow like honey, which resembled modern lokum. According to the Hacı Bekir confectionery company, its founder moved to Constantinople, now Istanbul, and opened his shop in 1777, later making a lokum from starch and sugar, although the sweet historian Tim Richardson has questioned that attribution. Turkish delight spread through the European lands of the Ottoman Empire, and in Greece it is loukoumi, often served with coffee. Rosewater and walnut are the most common flavourings.
The British version
In 1902 Hadji Bey, an Armenian emigrant to Ireland, set up a company, still in existence, to make rahat lokoum for the Irish and later the UK market.
In Britain, one familiar form is chocolate covered. Fry's Turkish Delight, rose flavoured Turkish delight covered in milk chocolate, was launched in 1914 by J. S. Fry and Sons of Bristol, which merged with Cadbury in 1919. From the late 1950s it was advertised on British television with the slogan Full of Eastern Promise. Since August 2010, the bars sold in Britain and Ireland have been made in Poland, after the closure of the Somerdale factory near Bristol: see the Somerdale factory promise
Diet notes
Traditional Turkish delight is set with starch rather than gelatine, but premium kinds contain nuts, and milk chocolate versions contain milk. Check the label: see which sweets contain nuts?
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Questions and answers
How is Turkish delight made?
Sugar and starch are cooked together into a thick gel, flavoured with rosewater, mastic, bergamot or lemon, and sometimes filled with nuts or dates. It is left to set, cut into small cubes and dusted with icing sugar, dried coconut or cream of tartar to stop the pieces clinging together.
Does Turkish delight contain gelatine?
The traditional sweet is based on a gel of starch and sugar rather than gelatine. Recipes and brands vary, so check the label, especially for chocolate covered versions.
When was Fry's Turkish Delight launched?
In 1914, by J. S. Fry and Sons of Bristol. It is rose flavoured Turkish delight covered in milk chocolate, advertised on British television from the late 1950s with the slogan Full of Eastern Promise.
Sources
- Turkish delight, Wikipedia
- Fry's Turkish Delight, Wikipedia
- Starch mogul, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- Diet, allergens and labelsStarch jelly sweets explainedStarch can set a jelly sweet without gelatine, as in Turkish delight, and trays of starch shape gummies. What that means for vegans, and why they firm up.
- How it is madeHow is nougat made?White nougat is whipped egg white sweetened with sugar or honey, mixed with nuts or fruit, left to harden and cut. The recipe goes back to 10th century Baghdad.
- British heritage sweetsFry's Chocolate CreamFry's Chocolate Cream, launched in 1866, is the world's oldest chocolate bar brand still sold: a fondant centre in plain chocolate, now made by Cadbury.
- Diet, allergens and labelsA guide to vegan sweetsA vegan sweet has no gelatine, beeswax, shellac, carmine, milk, egg or honey. The ingredients to watch, the plant alternatives, and what a vegan label promises.
- Questions people askWhich sweets contain nuts?Nougat, marzipan, brittle, chocolate peanuts and some Turkish delight contain nuts. Peanuts and tree nuts are separate allergens, and labels must show them.
- How it is madeHow are sweets made?Most sweets start as sugar syrup boiled to a set temperature, from about 112°C for fudge to 160°C for hard sweets. The stages, the methods and some history.