Sahlep warms us

Snow that we followed its coming step by step for days took Istanbul by storm with its all severity. After darkening in the evening, I got caught in minibus queue in front of Ataturk culture center in Taksim with a group of unfortunate citizens not being able to go home. I had put off a thick coat and tried to protect my hands, head. I thought I had taken sufficient measures. But the nature showed its power. My thick coat that I had trusted was incapable against the power of wind, my body temperature started to decrease quickly. Thing allowing me to resist snowstorm and cold weather was the very hot a cup of sahlep, smoking that I imagined. The hot cup was nearly in my hand. I felt the odor of cinnamon and powder ginger I sprinkled and specific aroma of sahlep. At this moment, it was my turn and I found myself at Bostanci minibus...

Returning to childhood

When I came home, after finishing adaptation process for the warmness of the environment, I cooked sahlep and sipped I had imagined and I felt myself as childhood days. When I was a child, as the weather was very cold or I was ill I remember my mother’s saying “let me prepare sahlep for you, it will warm up you”. What a beautiful expression “warming up” it is. Most of the time, soup brought to the table as it is hot fulfills this function. But the thing performing it better than soup during the severest days of the dead of winter is “sahlep”. There was no branded drink other than fizzy drink on the days qhen my mother used to tell me "let me prepare sahlep for you". Refresher drinks like lemonade and warming drinks like sahlep used to be prepared at home meticulously. Actually sahlep used to be sold in packages but we used to rely on the ones in Mısır Çarşısı more. Because sahlep is an expensive product. Starch may be added, the trick done is not easily realized. The one cheating makes profit. you may make a table spoon of sahlep paste with some milk and sugar. You can cook at medium heat by adding remaining part of half liter cold milk slowly. So sahlep does not get rough. The most delicate part of cooking sahlep is that it is mixed at medium heat until boiling and coagulating. Otherwise, material settles, it sticks top and sahlep does not integrate with milk. This takes fifteen, twenty minutes, it is forgotten immediately while sipping this drink emitting its sweet odor to the environment in the cup. There are many ready sahleps put on the market by many companies today. You drink after mixing with hot milk. But if you ask me, the taste and aroma of sahlep I cook by mixing are not present in them.

Sahlep plant is derived from bulbs of a kind of orchid “orchidacea” family in Latin. There are 24 types and 90 kinds orchids in this family. Many of these types and kinds grow themselves in Anatolia hosting very rich plant types and being productive. But all types of this family are not suitable for use as sahlep. Experts know which one will be used for sahlep production and offers us as open or in packages. The composition of sahlep consists of starch, sugar, mucilage being of adhesion feature and nitrous substances. Mucilage thickens sahlep while cooking. This substance constitutes nearly half of sahlep powder. Starch being of thickening feature is mixed with tricky sahleps for this reason.

It has therapeutic feature

Sahlep is not only a drink warming up people. Due to its nutritional and palliative features for various ailments, it has been used for treatment and special nutrition regimes since very old ages. The most important reason for drinking in winter months is that it does well for cough and cold. Since small bulbs include a nutritional extract at the level not expected from them, sailing boats used to have some sahlep bulbs in every boat setting sail. It is known that physicians used to recommend it for patients being of diarrhea and some gall bladder diseases in old ages. Sahlep that we can find at patisseries if we want to drink out of home, used to be served to homes by costers in special jugs heated with charcoal by going from door to door.

When habit of tea and coffee drinking at home was not so widespread until 18. century not only in our country, it is known that sahlep sellers used to go about till morning in streets where crowds used to gather and squares in England and sahlep used to find favor. We learn that while sahlep was boiled, a piece of ginger used to be added in it from old record.

After filling sahlep in a cup, powder ginger and cinnamon used to be sprinkled on it when I was a child. Burning taste of ginger used to make sahlep warmer up. Now there is no one sprinkling ginger on sahlep, onyl cinnamon is used. But February and the first half of March will come. Snow, snowboard and severe cold weather will increase and effect us. It will be beneficial to stock sahlep now.

Ahmet Ors
Sabah Newspaper 17 December 2006 (It is published with the permission of writer.)

Campaigns