What is Turkish delight?
Turkish delight,, lokum or rahat lokum, is a Turkish delicacy that is based on a mixture of starch and sugar that is colored with food coloring. It is also very popular in the Balkans (Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Greece, Romania), Siria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Lokum varieties include pistachios, chopped dates, hazelnuts or walnuts. The Turkish dessert can be flavored with rosewater, orange blossom water, or lemon.
Turkish delight is presented in small cubes that are dusted with confectioner’s sugar (or cream of tartar) to prevent them from sticking to each other.
In Turkey, it is customary to serve a lokum alongside Turkish coffee.
What is the origin of Turkish delight?
The history of lokum dates back at least 230 years. A Turkish legend states that a sultan of the country gathered all the confectionery experts of his kingdom and asked them to create a sweet to add to his famous collection of secret recipes. And after extensive culinary research, lokum was born.
The tradition of making these treats dates back to at least medieval times in Mediterranean gastronomy. It was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula at the time of Islamic domination and has been called “gumdrop” as it is the name traditionally used in Valencia and Catalonia for this sweet.
In Aragon it is called “lamín”, although the name is also used for other similar sweets such as candied fruit and candied pumpkin. The recipe for “tocinillo del cielo”, prepared with the yolks of eggs, is made in a similar way.
At first, orange blossom water, flower essence, jasmine, citrus juices, blackberry, etc. were used in the peninsula, and egg white for gelling, as is still done in some recipes for Turkish delight and other similar local traditional treats that have persisted over the years.
Homemade shapes until recently used to be cubes or rectangles, as straight lines were cut with a knife from the dough poured into a tray.
In 1776, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, a very experienced confectioner named Hacı Bekir Efendi, arrived in Istanbul from a small town in Anatolia. Bekir opened a small shop in the center of the city, and very soon he gained money and fame among the Turkish.
It became fashionable among ladies to give their friends lokum wrapped in special lace handkerchiefs, a custom also adopted by courting couples, as documented in the traditional love songs of that time.
In the 19th century, the lokum became internationally popular due to its spread throughout the British Empire. During a trip to Istanbul, a British man with an unknown name bought several boxes of lokum and sent them to the United Kingdom, where the candy was marketed as Turkish Delight, a name by which it is still known today.
In Spain it is very common to find them in shops and patisseries selling typically Romanian products.
It is said that Spanish painter Pablo Picasso ate the Turkish candy daily to focus on his work, while Winston Churchill and Napoleon’s favorite lokum was the pistachio filling.
This lokum recipe is validated by our Turkish culinary expert, Chef Dilara Erbay, of Abracadabra Magic Deli in New York.
Lokum (Turkish Delight)
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1¼ cup cornstarch
- 2¼ cups water , divided
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¾ cup pistachios
- ¾ cup hazelnuts
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- Liquid food coloring
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup icing sugar
Equipment
- Square cake mold (6 inches / 15 cm)
Instructions
- Before embarking on the preparation of the dough itself, line two 6-inch (15 cm) square molds or boxes with parchment paper (or wax paper). In order for the paper to adhere better to the sides, brush lightly with oil. Spread cornstarch at the bottom of each mold or box lined with parchment paper.
- Dry roast the pistachios for a few minutes in a hot pan. Put aside and then repeat the process for the hazelnuts.
- Bring 1 cup (250 ml) of water to a boil, add the sugar and lemon juice. Then reduce heat to medium while maintaining a constant boiling. A foam should form. Continue cooking until the sugar mixture reduces and thickens but before it changes to a caramel color.
- Check that the sugar syrup is ready by scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula. The syrup should not cover the bottom of the pan back too quickly as it should not be too liquid.
- In a bowl, mix the corn starch with 1¼ cup (300 ml) of cold water and stir well to completely dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Then add this mixture to the syrup prepared above. Reduce heat to low and stir constantly. The mixture will slowly thicken and become more difficult to mix.
- The preparation is ready when it is completely detached from the bottom of the pan. It can take between an hour and an hour and a half. Divide dough into two equal parts.
- In the first, add a tablespoon of orange blossom water, the roasted pistachios and desired coloring and stir well.
- In the second, add a tablespoon of rosewater, roasted hazelnuts and desired coloring and mix well.
- Divide each dough into the previously prepared molds or boxes and smooth the surface as much as possible.
- Cover with aluminum foil (without it being in contact with the dough) and allow to dry for 24 hours.
- Turn the dough over and cut into squares with a large smooth knife. To facilitate cutting, coat the knife with oil with a brush before each slicing.
- In a deep dish, combine the cups of icing sugar and cornstarch and mix well. Roll each cut square in this mixture once, then again. You can also put the sugar and cornstarch mixture in a freezer bag and add the squares of Turkish delights in small quantities and mix well to coat completely.
- Turkish delights will stay perfectly fresh for several weeks at room temperature in a metal box.
Video
Notes
Source
Wikipedia (ES)
Mike is “the devil” of the 196 flavors’ duo. Nicknamed as such by his friends, he is constantly in search of unusual recipes and techniques with impossible to find ingredients. The devil is always pushing the envelope, whether it is with humor or culinary surprises.
these look great. i love Turkish delight!
These look so good defiantly going to try these. The good thing about this recipe is it is so simple with simple ingredients in it.
Estos dulces son deliciosos
what temperature should the syrup be as the description is vague??
Hey Michael, the exact temperatures are not essential as long as you follow the recipe and you reach a light caramel color.
The temp is in fact critical, no less thsn 230, no more than 240
Hello, do you know detailed technology?
Hey Nikolay, not sure what you are referring to. Please explain.
I mean i did according to the recipe but did not get proper lokum structure. It is not possible to cut by knife. It is chewy.
So my open questions:
What isthe corn starch exactly brand/type.
After all mixed tigether what is the cookibg temperature should be.How long?
The temperature and stage of the sugar is necessary to be explained more detailed. Last time I tried to make it, I let it boil too long and it did become caramel and the lokum didn’t melt in the mouth but was toffee. In other recipes it tells to cook it until the soft ball stage, where when with a spoon the syrup is tested in cold water, and forms a soft ball. Please add this detail to your recipe.
I love orange blossom and rose water flavours but have a few friends who are not so keen. Can I use other ingredients in place of the Rose water? Maybe cherry or raspberry juice?
Hey Heather, I guess you can try those juices. You just wouldn’t add any red food coloring. Not really authentic lokum but hey 😉
Hey Nikolay,
So, no particular brand of cornstarch.
Regarding the temperature, it may be important to some people (see Besiktas’ comment above), but I feel obtaining the right texture is just as important. It will take you between 1h and 1h30 to reach the right texture when the mixture detaches from the bottom of the pan.
Good luck!
Mike
Do you have to stir the entire time? The recipe mentions an hour to an hour and a half for it to detach from the bottom.
Hi Desiree,
You don’t have to stir the entire time. However, you should stir very very frequently throughout the recipe.
Enjoy your workout
In Turkey they’re more likely to use wheat starch. Not sure how much difference it will make in lokum but it does provide a very different texture in puddings at least. I’ve used both corn and wheat starch in making halva Farsalon, a Greek sweet that is essentially a caramelized starch halva with added butter. The consistency with wheat starch was much better, a different kind of resistance similar to what I love in a good Turkish lokum.
Thanks so much for the details, Bob. Really appreciated. We’ll be sure to try wheat starch next time we make them, unless someone beats us to it!
How can I make or where would I find rosewater or orange blossom water
Where do you live, Ginny? It is quite easy to find online.
Hi there,
Wow! I’ve just got back from Istanbul where I bought a kilo of lokum in various flavours (I really can’t get enough of it). Yours looks exactly like the stuff I bought. Congratulations. I’m now feeling inspired to try your recipe (when I’ve run out of the stuff I bought in Turkey). I’ve bookmarked the page and will let you know if and when I’ve tried it. Any last minute tips?
Looking forward to following your blog more closely.
Thanks, Luca. Yes, those lokum can be addictive 😉 Good luck with the recipe. Let us know how they turn out!
HE.LO!! mike HOW ARE YOU.
:)0
Great Maureen and you? 😉
What is traditionally used for the red food coloring? I would like to know what was used before synthetic dyes became available. All recipes only state red food coloring and I assume people are using modern color for this, but they must have used something else several hundred years ago in the traditional Turkish recipe. I haven’t found the answer to this anywhere on the web!
Hey Jim, not sure, but I suggest you head over to our Facebook community, as we have a number of experts (including in Turkish cuisine), who might be able to help. You can join and ask your question here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/196flavors/
Hi Mike,
As a child (many moons ago) I ate the Turkish delight in many flavors. Lemon, rose, raspberry,, peppermint. I would like to make Lokum with natural fruit juice ( fruit that I blend and strain), for flavoring and coloring. How much I should add? As much as the rose water?
Your recipe is the best and most authentic from what I researched.
Thank you!
Thanks a lot, Cristi. Not sure about using natural fruit juice to be honest. The most important is that it is quite concentrated to give a strong enough flavor. I would also use the same amount as for rose water, although if you add more, you can always reduce it. Good luck!
Not sure about lokum but for other red coloring in food (like a red flavored sugar called lohusa şekeri, made into a drink for women who had just given birth), they used cochineal.
My best guess would be cochineal
Thanks for your beautiful recipe. I think nuts make Turkish delight better.I really like how your Turkish delights look like, I’m sure tastes are good too.
Hi, I tried the recipe and followed it .. whrn making my syrup you mentioned it shouldn’t be too liquid.. I had my fire on a medium heat or maybe less and it never gone to thick like what was said in the recipe.. I’ve tried twice and failed so decided to ask this question as I don’t want to waste more sugar.. my question is how big was your pan when you were making this recipe cause it might be that, sometimes size of the cookware matter.. I was using a 24cm pan.. thanks..
Hello Jane,
600g of sugar and 550ml of water is the best combination to obtain a syrup.
On the stove it is almost impossible not to obtain a thick syrup while mixing water with so much sugar… it is a chemical reaction.
In that case, try to cook for longer or turn up the heat.
For your information I used a 20cm pan.
Good luck 🙂
My lokum never set, leaving me with a goopy mess. I was wondering what I did wrong! So disappointed that it did not turn out the way I had hoped. I followed the recipe to a tee.
Hey Ava, not a member of this website’s team, but I have made this/similar recipe maybe 8-9 times now and this is what I have found:
1.) higher temperature for the sugar tends to result in ‘harder’ candies (obviously) and results in chewier lokum,
2.) I haven’t yet tried lemon juice, but a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar works well for me
3.) and most importantly, the ‘setting’ is a chemical reaction of the acid (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.), water, and starch when heat is applied to it (for reference it is called gelatinisation). If this does not occur, then this recipe will never set (my first attempt resulted in Turkish delight through my carpet), my best attempt so far involved cooking starch, water, and vinegar seperately until it gels and then adding it at the appropriate time
4) also note that this recipe may need slight adjustments depending on altitude and humidity.
Thank you for the Turkish delight recipe. It’s a really useful recipe. I had looked at some recipes before, but I couldn’t do it properly. I follow your posts.
How about Orange/Passion fruit, Strawberry/Guava Lokum.
Hi Reta! These are the traditional fruits that are used. However, feel free to try different ones! 🙂
Hey, friends.
I found this recipe and it reminds men of when I lived in Brooklyn, NY. On Atlantic Avenue, there was a slew of Middle Eastern shops and one sold the most amazing massive squares of Turkish Delight. It was everything in your recipe except the food coloring. I liked the plain Turkish Delight because the subtle flavors were perfect.
I am anxious to try making this and know it will bring back some great memories.
Thank you for posing this.
Thanks for your comment, Zach. We truly hope you enjoyed them – let us know how they turned out!
Hi!
I appreciate you guys posting this recipe, I was struggling to find a decent one. My husband loves pistachio lokum, but I didn’t want to pay $30 for a tiny box of them, so I tried your recipe out.
I did run into a few hiccups. First, I couldn’t get my syrup to get to the stage you guys talk about, where it doesn’t come together too quickly and isn’t turning a caramel color. Mine DID start to turn a caramel color and still wasn’t doing the thing it was supposed to. It also kept trying to boil over the rim of my pot, so maybe my 1qt pot was too small and I should’ve gone with a bigger one. I still added the slurry (cornstarch and water) to it and pushed forward.
My second issue was that I couldn’t figure out when exactly the dough stage was right. It kept seeming like it was pulling away, but then it would be super gooey again. I cooked it for what felt like a long time before I decided it was cooked enough and took it off the head.
Sadly, since I’m in the Midwest, I couldn’t find any rose water or orange blossom water, nor could I find flowers that weren’t doused in pesticides to make my own. So, I substituted for a small splash of vanilla (less than what the recipe called for for either water flavors). I also only used pistachios, since that’s what I had, and since it’s his favorite.
So, the outcome: I should have been patient and cooked it longer when I added the slurry. It came out like a soft candy, where it’s delicate, a little chewy, and stretchy. The vanilla wasn’t overwhelming and it actually complemented the pistachios, but I also didn’t smash them enough to evenly distribute the pistachio flavor, so that was a bummer.
Overall though, despite my hiccups and the substitutions I had to make, I thought they turned out nice. My husband really likes them too, he said they’re close to the ones he had a long time ago that were from Turkey, but mine came out softer and just had a little less equal distribution of pistachio flavor. I think that the next time I make your recipe, I’ll be more patient, and I may also try throwing in some ground pistachio with the chopped pistachio to give a better flavor distribution.
Thank you again for your recipe, it made a really nice birthday gift for my husband, despite the errors I made.