Narnian Turkish Delights

Who doesn't remember reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and not being intrigued by Turkish Delight? I always imagined it as this life changing sweet, something that when you ate it you had no control over yourself. Edmund betrayed his whole family for just one bite of it, so I mean, it HAD to be delicious right?

Years ago I was working on an undergraduate degree in archaeology, and had the opportunity to go to Turkey to do some hands on archaeological work at a real site. You know what my first thought was when I was offered the trip? I will finally get to taste some Turkish Delight!
Unfortunately, my first taste of it was not so great; I had brought some cheap stuff in a box at a bazaar and it was hard and a little stale. I have to admit I was heartbroken. Why would my dear Clive Staples write about this stuff when really it just tasted like bad jelly beans? I ended up waiting until the last week of my trip to taste the famed sweet just once more, to just check, to be absolutely certain. I had an acquaintance who'd lived in Istanbul most of his life show me what to buy. He took me to genuine candy shop, a place where they make it in house. When we got there I saw that there were no boxes at all, it was all available to purchase by the pound. He told me to try the rose one, and the one with pistachios as those were traditional. I was hesitant, but this Turkish Delight was much better. Very soft with fluffy powdered sugar and a floral sweet flavor. It was in fact quite delicious.

A small antidote about my quest in Turkey. I had the good fortune to go with my very close friend Sarah at the time. She too is a fan of Narnia, and like me she had very much wanted to taste Turkish Delight. During our first outing into Istanbul we noticed that many stores and signs said Aslan on them. We went into a small store emblazoned with a big yellow lion, called Aslan's mart. We walked through the shop, and like two silly girls transported into another world, we touched all the merchandise as though it would tell us something deeper about the books we loved. We wondered what Aslan meant to the citizens of Turkey, did the name have a deep and important meaning, we wondered. I must have, right, otherwise why would Lewis use it? I asked the cashier, "What does Aslan mean in your country?" He looked at me with a cocked head and said with a small laugh, "Lion. Aslan means lion."

I wanted to relive that moment with Turkish Delight this weekend. I wanted to see if what I remembered tasting so long ago was still as good. I took a while to hunt down a recipe that I felt comfortable making. I am certainly no candy maker. Also many of the recipes asked for rosewater (as it is traditional) however in my hunt for ingredients I could not find any. So finally I found this recipe that calls for orange juice and orange zest.

It really was quite easy to prepare, and I added some food coloring to give it just a richer color.
I also cut out the pistachios as I wanted to simplify my first attempt as much as possible.

It will look like this both when you pour it into the pan and after it has set. To check if it's ready just tap your finger in the surface, it will wiggle a little like thick Jell-o

It took a full four hours for it to set, but once it did it was easy to remove from the pan, cut into squares and dredge in confectioners sugar.
The final product was very sweet with a heavy orange flavor, not unlike those jelly fruity slice candies.

"The big important question," my friend Julie asked me when I told her what I was making this week, "is would you betray your brothers for it?"

I can honestly say that though I enjoyed it I don't think I would hand my brothers over for it, though if the White Witch does have some good chocolate, I might just be persuaded.