Turkish Delight

[LSiegel]

I've made 3 or 4 attempts at making Turkish Delight (based on a recipe using the cooked corn starch/cream of tartar method, not gelatin), but it never sets up properly - it's always too wet, and liquifies the corn starch/powdered sugar when I coat it. Based on comments I've seen in other threads, I've tried cooking it longer (up to an hour and a half, rather than the hour I've seen in most recipes) and letting it set up for longer (up to 2 days) before coating it with powdered sugar, with no success. Can anyone recommend a recipe that has worked well for them, or make any suggestions on what I can do to fix this problem? Thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

Here is a recipe from andiesenji in recipeGullet to try.

Let us know how it works.

I have two other recipes but they use thin boiling starch which will likely be difficult to find.

[LSiegel]

Thanks for the recipe suggestion. It's very different from other recipes I've seen - most seem to use either gelatin or cornstarch, but this one uses both. I'll try it out in the next few days and let you know how it comes out.

A related question - in London last year I had a honey flavored Turkish Delight, and I'm wondering how to duplicate that flavor. I'd be hesitant to just substitute honey for sugar, given honey's hygroscopic nature that might lead to an even wetter result. Any ideas?

[Kerry Beal]

I have honey powder, I suppose you could add flavour that way. One of my recipes that uses thin boiling starch also uses invert sugar, you could replace that with honey.

[Chris Hennes]

I recently made a video about Cassandra Reeder's recipe for Turkish delight in her cookbook "The Geeky Chef Cookbook." It met with mixed reviews here at the library (see reaction shots in the video...) -- it is a gelatin-based recipe which gives something more like a rose-flavored Jello than the more candy-like texture I associate with Turkish delight.

 

[heidih]

Def not usual texture it appears - oh but pretty! Chihuly like.

Edited September 10, 2020 by heidih (log)

[Eatmywords]

Well produced!  Nice visuals and moves at a good pace holding one's interest.

[Chris Hennes]

25 minutes ago, heidih said:

Chihuly like.

Very appropriate here in Oklahoma, anyway!

[Bentley]

Can you provide your recipe and technique - then it may be possible to see what is not working properly.