If you’re not eating all your Turkish delight straight away, you need to allow a further 24 hours to allow natural sweating. Once dissolved, brush down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush (this prevents sugar crystals from forming). Lokum is an important part of the Ottoman cuisine culture, adapted by many Middle Eastern and Balkan countries, with variations. Cut the Turkish delight: Dust a cutting board with some of the reserved dusting mixture and transfer the candy to the prepared cutting board.

After starch was invented in the mid-19th Century, Bekir Efendi modified his original recipe, switching to corn starch as the binding agent instead of flour, which gave Turkish delight the distinct chewiness that it is now known for. We’ve carefully selected six different flavours of Haci Bekir’s world famous lokoum to take your experience of our coffee to a whole new level. if you don’t have a silicone pan, line a normal baking tin with baking paper and grease/coat in cornflour as per the recipe. Layer the candy between sheets of parchment in an airtight container on your countertop in a cool, dry place away from light and heat. Each box is a single flavour, so as not to let the stronger flavoured Turkish delights overpower the subtler ones.Make the sugar syrup: Combine the superfine sugar, lemon juice and 1 ¾ cups water into saucepan and set over medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Haci Bekir, a well-known confectioner, became famous due to his ingenious use of white sugar and cornstarch. Due to the simplicity of the ingredients, authentic Turkish delight is also gluten free and suitable for vegans. This recipe is scented with rosewater but you can use cinnamon, orange, vanilla or bergamot instead. We haven't tested any with this particular recipes with other juices, so you may have to experiment a bit to get the perfect ratios.

Given this fact you should always read the product label and not rely solely on the information provided on web listings. Classic Turkish delight flavours include rose, lemon and fruits, whereas premium varieties contain pistachios, hazelnuts, mastic and dates. These have the traditional rose and lemon flavours combined into each piece with a clear difference in colour indicating which half is which. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rose water, half the lemon juice and the pinkfood colouring, until the mixture is very pale rose.Real Turkish delight is made with real sugar without glucose syrup and doesn’t contain gelatin making it suitable for vegetarians, vegans, and those following halal and kosher diets. This may affect nutrition and allergen information therefore you should always check product labels and not rely solely on the information presented here. Here, you will find easy, tested-to-perfection, wholesome recipes with big flavors from all over the Mediterranean. At Özerlat we’ve matched our authentic Turkish coffees with lokoum from the legendary confectionery house Haci Bekir, which was established by master confectioner Bekir Efendi in Istanbul in 1777 (making Haci Bekir one of the oldest 100 companies in the world).

They include pistachio, mastika, clove, date selection, cinnamon, and rose, and come packaged in pretty boxes of 200gr, all hand cut (so some pieces are larger than others). Cut the Turkish delight: Dust a cutting board with some of the reserved dusting mixture, and then invert the Turkish delight onto it.Take off the heat and gradually add the hot sugar syrup, whisking thoroughly between each addition to prevent lumps forming.

Bekir Efendi’s recipe is the one that the family still uses today and have kept secret for generations. Throughout Turkey, these delicate candies are shared to close a meal with coffee, placed on dessert trays for holidays, weddings and other special occasions. However, once refined sugar arrived in the late 18th century it slowly took over as the sweetening agent of choice. The resulting mixture is then poured into trays to form jelly-like ‘cakes’ which are cut into cubes and dusted with icing sugar. Sprinkle the remaining cornstarch mixture over the candy and leave it uncovered on your countertop for 24 hours.Cornflour –Cornflour (cornstarch in the US) is an important ingredient, and used to thicken the mixture.