Turkish Delight, Lokum

Turkish Delight, Lokum

Today in the mail, we received a package from my peripatetic oldest daughter, who recently spent some time in Turkey.



That’s right; it’s Turkish Delight or, perhaps more correctly, lokum (the more common name being a Britishism for an Ottoman treat that has been around since the 1400s).

I’ve bought boxes of this stuff at various Middle Eastern-type stores in Chicago, but what intrigued me about this batch was the variation. Frequently, the lokum I get around here is all one or maybe two flavors. This selection had a whole range of flavors: orange, lime, coconut, some pistachio, and, of course, rosewater (probably my favorite because it’s the one I know the best). There were even cores of one flavor with an outer segment of another flavor, or layers of orange in between layers of other flavors; sometimes the cubes were impregnated with nuts; other times coated with coconut or some unidentifiable white stuff.

Kind of like an Ur-Gummi, lokum is chewy, fruity and sweet. Afiyet Olsun!

I got completely hooked on lokum while traveling in Turkey. They have it in a number of markets in the area, but for special orders, I'd check Istanbul Market. Last time I was there, the woman there, Fatma, who is married to the owner, said that anything you want from Turkey, if they don't have it, let her know, and she can add it to their regular order.

Istanbul Market
2324 South Elmhurst Road
Mount Prospect, IL 60056-5805
(847) 290-9740

My travels in Turkey did not lead to any lokum addiction. It was, however, fascinating to see the myriad of flavors that were available in the markets. Unfortunately, despite the different appearances and flavors, they all tasted pretty similar to me.

There is a similar sweet in Indian/Pakistani sweet called Karachi halva. I think the name came from Karachi residents who moved to India after partition in 1947, and I'm sure came to them via Turkey. At any rate, this halva bears no resemblance to the middle eastern halvahs, and is very similar in texture to lokum. Sometimes, people would use pieces of this Karachi halva as a filling for samosas- made for an interesting sweet snack.