Turkish Ice Cream is different than any other kind of ice cream, in flavor, texture and for the fact that it doesn’t melt.
My dad used to tell me that growing up in Adana (South Eastern Turkey) that he could always tell where the ice cream shop was in town because the ice cream man would string the ice cream over the door frame…AND IT DIDN’T MELT!
I know I know, that kind of boggles the mind to us westerners who know that our ice cream melts in a minute if you blink, but stay with me!
The secret ingredient to this madness is Sahlep, powdered orchid bulbs.
The word dondurma literally means frozen. So, it is Maraş Dondurması that Turks say is the best ice cream. It is also known as Dövme dondurma, this name comes from the verb dövmek (to stick) and means stuck because traditionally this ice cream was prepared by sticking the milk and other ingredients together with a wooden or metal stick.
The history of ice cream in this area began when the people of Anatolia mixed molasses and fruit extracts with untouched snow accumulating on the slopes of the mountain, to create the first form of ice cream (same practice as we mentioned before) Today, the secret to Maraş Dondurması still lies in the special natural ingredients, which are found on Ahir Mountain:
*Sahlep, which is the root of a wild orchid native of this mountain region, This word originally came from an Arabic phrase meaning “fox’s testicles”, contains a type of starch that gives the dondurma a particularly elastic consistency, allowing the ice cream to stretch like a rubber band.
We will be making ours fresh every week to serve on it’s own, with baklava (of course!), and transforming it into a Turkish coffee Affogato! Yes, gimme all the coffee and ice cream.
It was Mina’s project to find recipes for us to use and over the coming months, we will be rotating additional flavors with the traditional plain:
- Strawberry
- Chocolate
- Turkish Coffee
- Pistachio
When we get our TO-GO freezer, we will be stocking it with pints of ice cream for those midnight cravings!
