bobthenob
Non Active Member
Turkish Delights History
l copied this from Global oneness.A very interesting article on the history of this chewy sweet.l love this sweet,so l was keen to find out more of how it orginally came about.
here is the article.
Turkish Delight - Origin
The history of lokum dates back 230 years, making it one of the oldest sweets in the world. Turkish legend has it that in his endeavor to cope with all his mistresses, a Turkish sultan summoned all his confectionery experts and ordered them to produce a unique dessert to add to the collection of secret recipes for which he was famous. As a result of extensive research lokum was born.
In 1776, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, Bekir Effendi, a fully apprenticed confectioner, arrived in Istanbul from a small town in Anatolia. Bekir set up in a little shop in the center of the city. Hadji Bekir was the Willy Wonka of his day and among a people with such a sweet tooth as the Turks, he quickly won fame and fortune. Fashionable ladies began giving Turkish Delight to their friends in special lace handkerchiefs. These were also used as acts of courting between couples, as documented by traditional Turkish love songs of that era.
Lokum was unveiled to the west in the 19th century. During his travels to Istanbul, an unknown British traveler became very fond of the Turkish delicacy, purchased cases of lokum and shipped them to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. Picasso used to eat Turkish Delight on a daily basis for concentration on his work while Winston Churchill and Napoleon's favorite Turkish Delight was with pistachio filling.
The long name for the sweet is rahat lokum. The etymology of the word lokum has puzzled linguists for many years; it seems to be a corruption of the Arabic word rahat-al hulkum, meaning the contentment of throat while in Ottoman Turkish it means a piece of contentment. So, "Turkish Delight" may not be far off.
here is the article.
Turkish Delight - Origin
The history of lokum dates back 230 years, making it one of the oldest sweets in the world. Turkish legend has it that in his endeavor to cope with all his mistresses, a Turkish sultan summoned all his confectionery experts and ordered them to produce a unique dessert to add to the collection of secret recipes for which he was famous. As a result of extensive research lokum was born.
In 1776, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, Bekir Effendi, a fully apprenticed confectioner, arrived in Istanbul from a small town in Anatolia. Bekir set up in a little shop in the center of the city. Hadji Bekir was the Willy Wonka of his day and among a people with such a sweet tooth as the Turks, he quickly won fame and fortune. Fashionable ladies began giving Turkish Delight to their friends in special lace handkerchiefs. These were also used as acts of courting between couples, as documented by traditional Turkish love songs of that era.
Lokum was unveiled to the west in the 19th century. During his travels to Istanbul, an unknown British traveler became very fond of the Turkish delicacy, purchased cases of lokum and shipped them to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. Picasso used to eat Turkish Delight on a daily basis for concentration on his work while Winston Churchill and Napoleon's favorite Turkish Delight was with pistachio filling.
The long name for the sweet is rahat lokum. The etymology of the word lokum has puzzled linguists for many years; it seems to be a corruption of the Arabic word rahat-al hulkum, meaning the contentment of throat while in Ottoman Turkish it means a piece of contentment. So, "Turkish Delight" may not be far off.
