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Turkish Delight (Lokum) recipe

Turkish Delight (Lokum) recipe
How to make this simple addictive confectionary as featured in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
 
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Step 1Ingredients and Equipment

Ingredients and Equipment
the recipe was found on abc.net.au, further recipes and variants can be found with Google.

Ingredients (refer to the picture):
  • 4 cups white sugar ($1.50/kg)
  • 1 litre water
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup cornflour ($2/kg)
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1.5 tablespoons rosewater ($1/50mL)
  • red food colouring ($1/50mL)
  • 1 cup icing sugar

Equipment:
  • 2 pans
  • measuring cup
  • measuring spoons
  • cake pan (square preferrable)
  • knife
  • stiring spoons
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54 comments
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Feb 4, 2010. 12:48 PMms_jane says:
For those of you who are wondering, Turkish delight tastes like a marriage between jello and gummy bears. The flavor is delicate, usually either lemon  or rose. It's powdery at first and when you bite into it, there is only just enough resistance; not too much like gummy bears and not too little like jello. It's a bit sticky as you chew, but dissolves quickly in your mouth. It's very satisfying to eat, yet leaves you wanting more. 

Feb 4, 2010. 5:01 PMsoundinnovation says:
I've also seen apricot, mint, and peach flavors as well, although I prefer the lemon and rose ones.
Apr 5, 2012. 8:31 PMOwlsAndCake says:
Apricot and peach, huh? Sounds good! Mint is lousy tho! :D
Feb 4, 2010. 2:42 PMJaycub says:
That sounds very good.
Jan 30, 2010. 2:14 PMrjhw1 says:
In all the movies ive seen, and books ive read, it seems that alot of the times this is eaten, its by evil people. Kinda weird. Are you people all antagonists? :O
Feb 4, 2010. 9:36 AMwilderness says:
Hi rjhw1

I'll tell you my theory about that one:

Turkish delight is an 'oriental' sweet. The Romantic English writers, fathers of modern fantasy (e.g. J. R. R. Tolkein and C. S. Lewis), though they were intelligent and insightful people, were not the most enlightened of multiculturalists.

They had a very affectionate notion of proper, traditional, English things like beer, valour and buttered toast. Anything un-English, though it might be very admirable, or impressive, was nevertheless looked on with a certain amount of suspicion.

You will notice that the reinforcements who came to join the baddies in The Lord of the Rings, for example, all came from the South and the East. The heroes were the good old country shire folk with their broad English dialects. The Calormenes in the Chronicles of Narnia were dark and treacherous merchants and politicians who looked and dressed like Turks, ate their bread with oil, mistreated their animals and hated the chivalrous and fair-skinned people of Narnia.

It's an intellectual failing known as 'orientalism', or more basically, the failure to identify with people of other human cultures as equal and essentially similar to yourself.

I hope nobody finds this comment offensive. I am of mixed ethnic background and have lived in both England and the Middle East, which is why I identify with the issue. I should add for the record, that I loved the Narnia books as a child, and think they contain a lot of beautiful and insightful writing.

I also love both lokum (real turkish delight) and real ale!

-- wilderness
Sep 27, 2011. 6:59 AMzzoe says:
Well put, Wilderness.
Apr 20, 2011. 10:47 AMmusicboxdoll says:
Um, mine wont thicken properly, did I do something wrong?
It's the consistency of Vaseline mixed with semi hardened jello and this is the second time that this has happened, I tried to boil it longer this time but it's still not quite stiff enough to cut, so of you can help, that would be great thanks! :)
Aug 27, 2010. 9:43 PMYoshiB says:
also is it meant to be a bit lumpy?before it looked like vaseline or hairgel and now that i combined it is a bit lumpy. normal or no? ciao
Aug 27, 2010. 8:48 PMYoshiB says:
umm.... why do we add another lot of cream of tartar when we did it in the previous step?please reply ASAP. ciao.
Mar 28, 2010. 10:50 AMapplesaucemodifier says:
 how important is the rosewater? This stuff is impossible to find.
May 5, 2010. 9:39 PMTiktaky says:
 Rose water is the main ingredient as it adds the actual "turkish delight" flavoring.

In australia you can by "rose extract" which is a syrup form of rose water.

Or you can make your own

tipnut.com/how-to-make-rose-water-4-recipes/

Feb 26, 2010. 9:09 PMKahlZun says:
How does the recipe change if you're using Rose Syrup? (Very strong flavour!)
Feb 4, 2010. 9:39 AMPhil B says:
We saw this for sale many places when we were in Turkey and Greece.  Unless I am mistaken, it is a lot like a candy from the state of Washington in the USA called "Apple Cotlets."
Feb 12, 2010. 4:51 AMmacguima says:
Dear Phil B: Turkish delights have been around for hundreds of years.  Is Apple Cotlets that resemble the turkish candy and good for them. 
Feb 5, 2010. 9:02 AMSuzanne in Orting says:
The product that you refer to is from Liberty Orchards in Cashmere WA.  They started with two flavors, Applets and Cotlets, to use locally available apple, apricot, and walnut crops.  Next, they added Grapelets.  Since then, they have added many other fruit and nut combinations under the name of Fruit Festives.

When I was a kid, we visited the factory there.  It was a small operation and they had the cool policy that everyone switched jobs every 2 hours.

I usually buy the economy box, which translates to "the ones that were cut funny."

Suzanne in Orting, WA
Feb 6, 2010. 9:51 AMPhil B says:
Thank you for the background information.  When I first had Cotlets we lived in Ohio.  We now live in Idaho.
Feb 9, 2010. 6:49 PMScienceWiz says:
My math teacher went to Turkey and brought back my Turkish Delights for my whole class!! She had a couple different kinds, but the rose ones were absoooluuutely delicious!! I had fallen in love, excuse the pathetic pun, and wanted to find a place to buy them. I looked and looked and looked but couldn't find turkish delights anywhere... Luckily, you posted this instructable and now i can make turkish delights whenever i want!! Thankyou!

Jan 30, 2010. 10:28 PMjianqiang says:
 What does it taste like? Must taste pretty good if Edmund betrayed his siblings for them :)
Feb 5, 2010. 12:21 PMgreybunny says:
 It's not that it was "so very good," it's that he ate something that she made with magic. She essentially poisoned him. It had to be something he would eat, however, which is why it's a treat. You noticed that though he had bad attitudes before, they did not appear destructive to his family until after he ate it. His "loyalty" shifted.

Very good insights, Wilderness. I always took it being reactionary to WWII. In fact, the people who help the (British) in LotRs are described being close to Italian, Japanese and German. The "Italians" are the hardest to find. Also, according to my sister, the "eagles" represented the US, but I didn't see it. Probably because it was way too blunt, where Tolkien normally is sly about it. Or maybe he just couldn't come up with another ending :)
Feb 4, 2010. 7:40 AMTemporalis says:
 If made properly, it should taste of roses.
Feb 5, 2010. 8:42 AMmacchiato says:
 Woo woo wait a second here. Your recipe doesn't mention anything about boiling the sugar mixture until it thickens at all. Isn't it so that you should boil it until you can form a ball between your thumb and index finger at least?
Feb 4, 2010. 6:13 AMFrankie Daileigh says:
 do you mean CORN STARCH OR CORN FLOUR?  CORN FLOUR MAKES CORN BREAD AND TORTILLAS RIGHT?
Feb 4, 2010. 11:32 AMSulik says:
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOOOOLLLL!!!@@21231@1!
Feb 5, 2010. 3:21 AMRaNDoMLeiGH says:

Feb 4, 2010. 8:02 AM3ngin3 says:
yep corn flour, if you use egg with that flour you make bread,tortillas etc.
Feb 4, 2010. 7:35 AMMatth1981 says:
Cornflour in the UK is same as Corn starch in US.
Cornmeal is for tortillas etc
Feb 6, 2010. 2:11 AMFashim says:
What about in Australia *Says it in a Deep Steriotype Voice*

Feb 4, 2010. 8:53 AMZyzybalooba says:
Thanks for clearing that up, Matth.  I wasn't sure what cornflour was either.

Along those lines, those who don't know, icing sugar in the UK is called powdered or confectioners sugar in the US
May 5, 2010. 9:43 PMTiktaky says:
 In Australia both "icing sugar" and "confectioners sugar" is sold as dffrent products.

Icing sugar contains flour, caster sugar, AND confectioners sugar and is almost a "ready made royal icing"

For this recipe you can use generic-brand icing sugar (as it often does not contain flour) or pay a little extra for confectioners sugar.
Feb 4, 2010. 11:29 PMMaldris says:
why cant this be standardised!

oh well it'll hopefully happen some day.

I thank you on behalf of those that needed the help
Feb 4, 2010. 11:33 PMFlash635 says:
It was standardised until Americans changed it.
Feb 5, 2010. 1:38 AMMaldris says:
good point, good thing I don't live in America :P then Id just sound like a hypocrite :P
Feb 5, 2010. 3:22 AMFlash635 says:
Then you could say,"Why doesn't everyone just speak "Merikan?"
Feb 6, 2010. 4:56 PMFred82664 says:
According to the laws of sociology and the growth of technology the whole world will be speaking the same language with the same standers and meanings in about  50 to 100 years. personally I think mankind would of destroyed its self by weapons of mass destruction long before then. Then it will not mater    
Feb 5, 2010. 4:17 AMMaldris says:
true but Im not going to.
Feb 4, 2010. 7:57 PMclaudiaivonnefranco says:
In the US, Corn Flour is NOT Corn Starch.  Two different things and I am sure this needs Corn STARCH, to thicken.
Feb 4, 2010. 7:00 PMsherlocksbumstead says:
do i just leave out the rosewater to make it plain 'ol lemon flavored? i'm trying to make it just with stuff in my house
Feb 4, 2010. 10:36 AMdhilberling says:
be sure you let other know that "cornflour" is the same as "corn starch".  My poor husband look everywhere in our small town for cornflour because I am usually very precise about what I need from the store.  After 30 years of marriage, I still haven't lived that one down!!
Jan 31, 2010. 2:29 AMimkwl12345 says:
it says add cream of tartar twice....help?
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