Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts

'Mary Is?n has written an amazing work about every kind of Turkish confectionery, pastry, pudding, preserve and ice cream. The recipes are historic ones and the introduction and background text provide a fascinating insight into the Turkish past and the culture that created what is at the heart of one of the richest cuisines. I found it riveting.' - Claudia Roden 'The Turks have been famous for their sweet tooth since the days when so many confectioners worked at the Topkap? Palace that they had their own mosque. Sweets permeate Turkish life. Mary I??n has gathered a mountain of information on this rich subject - recipes from the Middle Ages to the present, science, history and folkways. It's a sweet read.' - Charles Perry, food historian 'A fascinating and informative exploration of the role of sweetness in Turkish culture over the centuries.' - Laura Mason, food historian and author of Sugar-plums and Sherbet 'Mary Is?n has penned a masterpiece in its field. This is a dizzying book that carries us into daily life, social life and the world of customs and traditions.' - Selim Ileri, writer and novelist, Zaman

Mary Isin has lived in Turkey since 1973 and started researching Ottoman cuisine in 1983. She is the author of a Turkish cookery book, an encyclopedic dictionary of Ottoman cuisine and a transcription of an Ottoman cookery book as well as many articles on food history. She is also editor of A King's Confectioner in the Orient and an eighteenth-century Turkish dictionary of Persian culinary terms.

1 ?eker - Sugar 2 Nobet ?ekeri - Sugar Candy 3 Peynir ?ekeri - Pulled Sugar 4 Kudret Helvas? - Manna 5 Confectioners and Confectionery Shops 6 Sugar Sculpture 7 Akide - Boiled Sugar Drops 8 A??z Miski - Musk Lozenges 9 Misk - Musk 10 Badem ?ekeri - Sugared Almonds 11 ?erbetlik ?eker - Sherbet Sugar 12 Macun 13 Cevirme - Fondant 14 Recel - Preserves 15 Helva: Home-made varieties 16 Helva: commercial varieties 17 Keten Helva - Pi?maniye 18 Helva Sohbeti - Helva Parties 19 Sucuk and Kofter 20 Pelte 21 Lokum - Turkish Delight 22 Gullac 23 Baklava 24 Kaday?f 25 A?ure 26 Sutlu Tatl?lar - Milk Puddings 27 Zerde 28 Dondurma - Ice Cream Bibliography Index

The stories behind Turkey's huge variety of sweets and puddings are as fascinating as their multiplicity of flavours. This riveting exploration of their history and role in Turkish culture is a voyage of adventure, taking us from the sultan's palace to the homes of ordinary people in Turkey's villages and towns, and beyond to Central Asia, Persia, Arabia, Egypt and the Levant. This is the land of Turkish delight perfumed with rosewater and musk, rose jam, whose praises were sung by Rumi, asure, zerde tinted with saffron, baklava filled with nuts, clotted cream or cheese, milk puddings and helvas, strings of nuts dipped in grape syrup, lollipops in the shape of animals and model gardens built of sugar carried in wedding processions. The first study of Turkish confectionery ever to be published, Sherbet and Spice offers a rare look at the evolution of sweets from the non-European angle, based on many Turkish sources little known outside Turkey that lend a new dimension to the subject.