Join twowildtides on the country challenge. Each week, we’re going to be heading to a new country (in spirit). Primarily, we’ll be cooking a meal from each country; but we’ll also be watching travel documentaries, reading travel blogs, and listening to music. During the global pandemic, travel was largely inaccessible. We want to reignite our wanderlust, satisfy our travel bug as much as we can, and learn some new things along the way. I have a feeling our bucket list will have a number of items added to it through this experience as well. We created a simple alphabetical spreadsheet with all the countries of the world, and each week we will draw a random number that corresponds with a country on the spreadsheet.
It isn’t very often that a country changes its name, but this year, Turkey did. As of June 2022, Turkey is officially Türkiye:
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has asked the international community to recognise Turkey by its Turkish name Türkiye, dropping the long-standing anglicised version that was often confused with the famous Thanksgiving animal.
“The word Türkiye represents and expresses the culture, civilisation, and values of the Turkish nation in the best way,” Erdoğan said.
International organisations like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and NATO have already adopted Türkiye (roughly pronounced as “tur-key-yay”), following a formal request from the Turkish authorities.
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/28/turkey-is-now-turkiye-what-other-countries-have-changed-their-name
Türkiye has long been a desirable travel destination, so well known for its capital city of Istanbul with vibrant markets, delicious food, and striking architecture. Travel bugs are also well aware of Cappadocia, known for the hot air balloon festivals. Türkiye is an ideal stop on an Eastern European or Western Asia backpacking trip– it’s a transcontinental nation, which means you could travel through Türkiye to extend your travels from one continent to another.
I knew I had to attempt Turkish Delight to represent Türkiye. I think many folks from my generation have been fascinated with Turkish Delight since reading or watching The Chronicles of Narnia. As a Newfie, I was also introduced to the idea of Turkish Delight through the Big Turk Bar (I know you can get them everywhere but for some reason, they are infamous to NLers) which contains a mass-produced version of Turkish Delight coated in milk chocolate. I decided to aim for the more authentic, delectable version of Turkish Delight that you would actually find in Türkiye, where the dessert is better known as Lokum.
I followed this recipe by Silk Road Recipes.
Making the Turkish Delight was a fun experience. I started by ordering a new ingredient, Orange Blossom Water, which came in this quaint little bottle. I also had to track down some pomegranate juice, which was more challenging than expected (I did not have the patience to juice some pomegranates).
My kitchen ended up looking like a chemistry lab. Thermometres, measuring spoons and cups, and white powder lined my countertops while concoctions bubbled away on the stovetop. It was a very involved process. I followed the instructions carefully and everything appeared to be coming together as it was supposed to. I was amazed to see how quickly the mixture thickened.
After the pistachios were added and the mixture was in the greased baking dish, I allowed it to cool on the counter for an hour and then placed it in the fridge, as per the recipe. By the time these steps were done, it was time for bed, so I ended up leaving the dish in the fridge overnight and all day until I got off work the next evening, so it had plenty of time to set.
When I flipped the baking dish, the Turkish Delight mixture plopped out just as it should, in one large rectangle. I was able to slice the large sheet into tiny squares, about 2.5 inches, and coat them in the cornstarch and icing sugar. At this point, I tasted one and it was a little too sweet for my taste, but I was still really pleased with how they turned out. I had to get to a meeting that evening, so I put the squares back in the fridge until I got home.
This is where things went terribly wrong. When I took my Turkish Delight out of the fridge, everything had melted into a goopy mess. Some pieces maintained their shape until you tried to pick them up, and they liquified out of your fingers, like slime. I don’t know what happened, but I have a feeling it was to do with the chemistry behind the cornstarch and sugar. Or, perhaps I didn’t simmer the mixture long enough in the beginning.
Unfortunately, my Turkish Delight was a massive failure and it all ended up in the garbage. It’s too expensive and time-consuming to try again, but I promise that when I someday visit Türkiye, I will be treating myself to a beautiful little box of Lokum.
Let us know what you think!