Clad in a red vest with gold embroidery and matching fez, the ice cream
vendor rings a bell hanging above his booth on Istanbul’s busiest
pedestrian thoroughfare, then grabs a long stick and plunges it into a
vat in front of him, churning its contents with great effort.
Triumphantly, he raises what looks like a football-sized mass of taffy
into the air, spins it around, and then drops the ice cream back into
its container as the first customer of the day steps up.
What gives Turkish ice cream (
maraş dondurması
in Turkish, after the Kahramanmaraş region in the southeast of the
country where it is believed to have originated) the unique firm, chewy
consistency that allows it to be slung around or cut with a knife has
traditionally been
salep — a powder made from tuberous orchids....
Read the rest of this article, "Orchids Under Threat, From Turkish Ice Cream," on Zester Daily.
