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Turkish Delight
Two pounds of granulated sugar, ten ounces of cornstarch, fourteen ounces of powdered sugar, three ounces of strained honey, one quart of water, oil of lemon to flavor. Put the granulated sugar and one pint of the water over the fire to boil; test it frequently in cold water and when a little of it can be rolled in a ball between the thumb and finger, it is ready. In the meantime put the cornstarch in a bowl and mix with it sufficient of the remaining pint of water to form a thick paste; to this add the powdered sugar; then the rest of the water, which has been quickly brought to the boiling point. Stir until this forms a thick starch, then pour in slowly the boiling syrup. When thoroughly mixed, add the honey, oil of lemon and one-quarter of an ounce of powdered tartaric acid. Pour into oiled tins and when cold, cut into squares and pack away, dusting them with powdered sugar.
A workable lokum formula, but it stops short of the long cooking that gives Turkish delight its clear, chewy body. The starch mixture wants far more time on the heat than the text implies.
- The hinge: cook it much longerOnce the syrup is stirred into the starch, traditional lokum is cooked over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, stirring often, until the paste turns from opaque white to a translucent pale gold and pulls away from the pan in thick ribbons. Poured out after only "thoroughly mixed," it sets chalky and tastes of raw starch.
- "Rolled in a ball between the thumb and finger"This is the soft-ball stage, 235-240F on a candy thermometer. Test in very cold water; a firm ball at 245F and up will make the finished sweet tough.
- Weights, convertedTwo pounds granulated sugar is about 4 1/2 cups; 10 oz cornstarch is roughly 2 cups; 14 oz powdered sugar about 3 1/4 cups; 3 oz honey a scant 1/4 cup. A quart of water is 4 cups, used in two pints as directed.
- Oil of lemonThis is lemon essential oil, not extract, and it is aggressive. Two or three drops flavors the whole batch; add it off the heat with the honey so the volatiles are not driven off.
- Tartaric acidA quarter ounce is about two level teaspoons. It is sold with brewing and baking supplies, and it does real work here: the acid inverts some of the sugar and keeps the finished candy from crystallizing. Citric acid behaves similarly if tartaric is unavailable.
- The pan"Oiled tins" means a shallow metal pan brushed with a neutral oil; an 8-inch square pan suits this quantity, giving a slab about an inch deep. Lining with oiled parchment makes it far easier to lift out.
- Setting and cuttingLeave it uncovered at room temperature overnight, not in the refrigerator, where it weeps. Cut with an oiled knife or oiled scissors.
- Dusting and storagePowdered sugar alone will dissolve into damp syrup within a day; a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch is what confectioners use. Store in a tin between layers of the dusting mixture rather than airtight.
- YieldRoughly 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of candy, or about 60 one-inch squares.
Turkish delight is the English name for lokum, a starch-and-sugar sweet long associated with Ottoman confectioners and generally traced, in its familiar form, to Istanbul workshops of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It reached British and American tables through the nineteenth-century trade in Levantine goods and became a byword for luxurious, exotic confectionery, which is why a domestic manual like this one puts it in the candy chapter. The version here is notably plain: no rosewater, no mastic, no pistachios, only lemon oil and honey, reflecting what an American housekeeper could buy at the druggist and grocer. Tartaric acid and oil of lemon were both standard pharmacy items, and cornstarch, cheap and industrially produced since the mid-nineteenth century, replaces the wheat starch used in Turkey.