Turkish Delight

May 09, 2022

Turkish delight, also called lokum (لوقوم), malban (ملبن), and raha (راحة), is one of the oldest confections in the world. It’s naturally gluten free and often vegan. Turkish delight has a chewy texture and is served in bite-sized pieces dusted in powdered sugar.

The origins of lokum are unclear, but Turkey and Iran have been producing the sweet since the 18th century. It’s popular in the Balkans and Middle East, and is now easy to find in most places in the world. Common flavors include rosewater, mastic, mint, orange, lemon, and bergamot. Upscale versions may add nuts to the recipe for a crunchy textural contrast. There’s also a special variety made in the city of Afyon that includes a layer of clotted cream from water buffalo milk. It’s customary to serve lokum with Turkish coffee, and in certain places it’s sandwiched between biscuits.

turkish delight

Turkish coffee and delights from Hoang Tran via Unsplash

Most articles about Turkish delight explain that it’s a sweet made from a ‘gel of starch and sugar’, which isn’t really helpful if you have food allergies. We’d like to clarify that the gel is always made from corn starch. Wheat flour is never used in Turkish delight because it would not result in the correct consistency or opacity. Traditional recipes claim that no proper lokum can be made with gelatin, but there are plenty of recipes and packaged Turkish delights that include it. If you’re vegan, just make sure you pick the option without it.

Turkish delight is made of very basic ingredients, but the cooking technique is tricky and time consuming. Homemade Turkish delight is supposedly loads better than most packaged varieties available in the West. If you don’t feel like making it you can purchase perfectly satisfactory Turkish delight online. Below we’ve provided links to good options on Amazon, plus some recipes if you want to try making it at home.