In this short article, we will answer the question “How is the Turkish ice cream?” and will discuss the traditional Turkish sweets and food.
How is the Turkish ice cream?
Traditional Turkish ice cream (dondurma) is different from the usual. The flavour is similar, but its texture is denser and firmer.
As a result, it’s much harder to melt — and allows the salesperson to juggle the cone or even take the entire block of ice cream out of the jar, as pictured here.
And they love to do it to impress tourists. He uses a metal stick (as if it were a spear) instead of the typical spoon, as taking it out of the ice cream requires a little more force.
There is often a more limited range of flavours — often just chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and sometimes pistachio as well.
Of course, you can also find “ordinary” ice cream here in Turkey, although I think they add some of those ingredients to that one too because it seems a little thicker than usual.
What’s different about the Turkish ice cream recipe?
they add as thickeners a natural resin called mastic, and salep, a purple orchid root flour. (Legend has it that in the Kahramanrash region, in the south-east of the country, one is made with even more salep, and is eaten with a knife and fork).
These ingredients give it a thick consistency and greater resistance to melting. They give a good texture and do not affect the taste.
What is the experience of taking Turkish ice cream?
The salesman will always try some juggling act, like spinning the cone fast when you are going to get it and making a fool of you until finally, you can hold your ice cream cone.
How are the sweets from Turkey?
Turkish sweets are very famous and appreciated by tourists. In the historic centre of Istanbul, some sweet shops draw attention to their shapes and colours.
There are also options for sweets in bazaars in several cities, especially lokum, which is Turkey’s most famous sweet.
Lokum, Turkey’s most popular candy
Lokum, also known as Turkish delight, is the best-known and most sold sweet in Turkey. The candy is a kind of rolled gum that can have some filling like pistachio. But, there are also simpler lokums, which are just the gum cut into squares.
The rolled and stuffed lokums are the most appreciated. Several types of them differ in the filling and the “external covering”.
It is not difficult to find it, as it is sold in several places, including airports. So there’s no excuse not to try it.
Puff pastry sweets
There are also puff pastry sweets such as baklava, which is also found in Greece. However, I confess that I did not like these sweets, but it is worth trying because they are very traditional.
What is the typical Turkish food?
Turkish cuisine is diverse and appreciated by foreign tourists. Discover now the most famous dishes of typical Turkish food.
- Kebab, the most typical food in Turkey
The most popular dish is kebab. However, in Turkey it has a broader concept, as several dishes have “kebab” in the name and can be of various types of meat, mainly roasted, but also cooked.
Doner kebab
One of the most traditional is the döner kebab which is made with those skewers that have a lot of meat and here we know it as “Greek skewer”, together with salad wrapped in a sheet of bread. There is even vegetarian döner kebab.
Testi kebab, the tastiest dish of typical Turkish food
However, the highlight is the testi kebab. The dish is based on meat (beef or chicken) and vegetables, but the difference is how it is made. Placed inside a ceramic pot, with dough on top and taken to the oven.
The dish is served in the pottery itself, which is opened in the presence of the customer. Testi kebab is originally from Cappadocia, but you’ll also find it in Istanbul.
- Pide, the Turkish pizza
A very traditional and popular dish that you will find throughout Turkey is the pide, a kind of pizza made with a thick dough of bread and in an oval shape. There are several flavours of pide, from the tomato-only version to the meat options.
The pide is also very popular with tourists who, in the absence of traditional pizza, choose to eat “Turkish pizza”.
- Lahmacun, my favourite Turkish cuisine dish
Among the typical Turkish foods, there is a simple, cheap and very tasty dish. Lahmacuno is present in most restaurants, it is also one of the cheapest on the menu.
Lahmacun is a thin, crispy dough with a sauce on top. Looking at it, it looks like a pizza. But there is only one type of sauce, other than the pide you choose the flavour (meat, cheese, chicken, etc). This is not a dish for a meal, but a starter or a snack.
Conclusion:
In this short article, we answered the question “How is the Turkish ice cream?” and discussed the traditional Turkish sweets and food.
