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most well-known sweets associated with Turkish
Cuisine are Turkish Delight, and "Baklava".
This exquisite flavoured pastry has been made in
Anatolia for long centuries, and its ancestor may
be a dish made by the Assyrians consisting of
dried fruit sandwiched between two layers of
pastry and baked in the oven. The earliest record
of baklava as we know it today locates it in
Damascus, from which city it spread to Gaziantep
and from there to the rest of Turkey. Exactly when
and how this happened is matter for debate. Nadir
Güllü, head of the famous family firm of baklava
makers, Güllüoğlu, relates that his ancestor
Hacı Mehmed Güllü first tasted baklava in
Damascus on his way to Mecca to perform the
pilgrimage. He remained there for six months to
learn how it was made, and introduced it to "Gaziantep".
The baklava of this city is made with even thinner
layers of pastry, and filled with the fine quality
pistachio nuts which grow in this region.
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It
may giving the impression that these may be the
typical desserts eaten after meals. This, of course,
is not true. Firstly the family of desserts is much
richer than these two. Secondly these are not
typical desserts as part of a main meal. For example,
baklava and its relatives are usually eaten with
coffee, as a snack or after a kebab dish. Let us now
look at the main categories of sweets in the Turkish
Cuisine.
By the 17th
century at least the fame of baklava had spread to
Istanbul, since towards the end of that century
baklava was being made by the palace cooks as a
special treat for the janissaries in Ramazan. The
janissaries carried the trays of baklava out of the
palace in what was known as the Baklava Procession. |
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| By far, the
most common dessert after a meal is fresh seasonal fruit
that acquire their unique taste from an abundance of sun
and old-fashioned ways of cultivation and transportation.
Spring will start with strawberries, followed by cherries
and apricots. Summer is marked by peaches, watermelons and
melons; then, all kinds of grapes ripen in late summer,
followed by green and purple figs, plums, apples, pears
and quince. Oranges, mandarin oranges, and bananas are
among the winter fruits. For most of the spring and summer,
fruit is eaten fresh. Later, it may be used fresh or dried,
in compotes, or made into jams and preserves. Among the
preserves, the unique ones to taste are the quince
marmalade, the sour cherry preserve, and the rose preserve
(made
of rose petals, which is not a fruit!). |
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Grain-based
desserts include baked pastries, fried yeast-dough
pastries and the pan-sautéed desserts. The baked
pastries can also be referred to as the baklava
family. These are paper-thin pastry sheets that
are brushed with butter and folded, layered, or ,
rolled after being filled with ground pistachios,
walnuts or heavy cream, and then baked. Then a
syrup is poured over the baked pastries. The
various types, such as the sultan, the
nightingale's nest, or the twisted turban differ
according to the amount and placement of nuts,
size and shape of the individual pieces, and the
dryness of the final product.
"Helva"
is made by pan-sautéing flour or semolina and
pine nuts in butter before adding sugar, and milk
or water, and briefly cooking until these are
absorbed. The preparation of helva is conducive to
communal cooking. People are invited for "helva
conversations"
to pass the long winter nights. The more familiar
tahini helva is sold in blocks at a corner grocery
shop.
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| The "Lokma"
family is made by frying soft pieces of yeast dough in oil
and dipping them in a syrup. Lady's lips, lady's navel,
and vizier finger are fine examples.
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The
most wonderful contribution of Turkish Cuisine to
the family of desserts, that can easily be missed
by casual explorers, are the milk desserts - the
"Muhallebi"
family These are among the rare types of guilt-free
puddings made with starch and rice flour, and,
originally without any eggs or butter. When the
occasion calls for even a lighter dessert, the
milk can also be omitted; instead, the pudding may
be flavored with citrus fruits, such as lemon or
orange. The milk desserts include a variety of
puddings, ranging from the very light and subtle
pudding with rose-water to the milk pudding with
strands of chicken breast.
Another dessert that should be mentioned is a
piece of special bread cooked in syrup, topped
with lots of walnuts and heavy cream. This is
possibly the queen of all desserts, so plan to
taste it at the Ikbal Restaurant on the Ankara-Izmir
highway at Afyon.
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