The Legendary Appeal of Turkish Delight

Anyone who’s seen a display of Turkish delights in wholesale confectionery catalogues or a sweet shop window understands the allure of these famously tempting treats. The chewy cubes of pink, orange, yellow and green are given a thorough dusting of powdered sugar before being boxed or heaped upon platters, and their promise of delectable sweetness is enough to make anyone’s mouth water!

But how did these little treats become so popular? What is behind their exotic name and who is responsible for creating these chewy morsels? Though origins of the Turkish delight are murky and wreathed in legend, most stories point to 18th-century Istanbul as the source of the confection.

The Sultan’s Harem

One fanciful legend claims that the Turkish delight was a product of domestic adversity. The 27th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid, was allegedly so troubled by the competing demands of his four wives and hundreds of mistresses that he sought the perfect sweet treat to keep them happy. The sultan commissioned a team of confectioners to create the formula for the ultimate sweet. Bekir Effendi, who became known as Haci Bekir after his pilgrimage to Mecca, was the confectioner who came up with the winning creation, the chewy, fragrant sweet that we know today as Turkish delight.

Haci Bekir’s creation was wildly popular, and soon spread across the Middle East. In Constantinople (now Istanbul), fashionable ladies swapped the sweets wrapped in lace handkerchiefs, lovers traded them as token of affection, and no cup of Turkish coffee was complete without a nibble of the chewy confection on the side.

Haci Bekir Confections, run by the fourth and fifth-generation descendants of Bekir himself, is still churning out Turkish delights and other wholesale confectionery today, and has an enormous export market across Europe, North American, and Australia.

The Allure of Turkish Delight

The Turkish delight, or rahat lokum, as it is known in Turkey, is a relatively simple confection. A boiled mix of water, sugar, and cornstarch, the distinctive texture of Turkish delight is created by several hours of slow boiling. The sticky mixture is then poured into a starch-dusted mould and left to set for two days before being sliced into cubes and dusted in a generous coating of powdered sugar.

Traditional flavours of Turkish delight are rose, lemon, mint, and mastic (a plant resin with a refreshing pine or cedar taste), but more elaborate versions exist. Premium varieties of Turkish delight might have chopped dates, pistachios, walnuts, or coconut mixed into the sugar-starch gel, lending an added crunch to the confection. Retail and wholesale confectionery giant Cadbury even offers a chocolate-covered Turkish delight.

Worldwide Appeal

Turkish delight is much loved all over the globe and has been reinterpreted countless times. Anecdotal evidence holds that the confection was given its name by a Briton visiting Istanbul who developed a fondness for the sweets, but could not pronounce its Arabic name. Thus, “Turkish delight” was born.

Today, Turkish delight maintains its hold on the taste buds and the imagination. The 2009 film “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” prominently features the sweet, the allure of which allows the Snow Queen to bribe little Edmund Pevensie. In sweetshops and wholesale confectionery outlets alike, the Turkish delight is a delicious mainstay, tempting young and old sweet lovers alike.