Why is Turkish Delight Such a Let Down?

I actually think Turkish delights a pretty good, but then I didn't let a childhood book give me unrealistic expectations of a candy. I like mint ones.

It isn't a letdown if you aren't expecting it to taste like typical overly-sweet American candy. Its subtle and delicious, I think

Yeah I was birdies the first time I tried it. “I was like Turkish delight? More like Turkish nasty!”

Oops I meant horrified. Also I felt like the name wrote a cheque the food couldn’t cash.

Doesn't the real thing have hashish in it? Maybe you should try that one OP. Or at least an edible.

I had some in Istanbul, and it was not a delight.

😭.

So the overwhelming opinion is that "Turkish Delight" is false advertising from the responses.

Can any Turkish man on DL tell me what "Endreshe" is please? I want to know the English name of another flavor I will hate.

In Madonna's song Candy Shop, she's got Turkish delight.

Who wouldn't want Turkish delight from a 62 year old?

Her sugar is RAW!!!

Turkish Delight? I prefer Bonomo Turkish Taffy and chocolate covered Halavah sesame bars. YUM!

I love it- I was so excited when I got to try it as I’m also a big narnia fan.

If someone gave Turkish delight to me as a kid, and I knew then what I know now, I would be very sad. It would be like.... a punishment.

And R9, 🤢🤮

OP, the children were sent away because of a war and there was rationing and people were finally fit - though understandably nervous. Children didn’t even have candy or good shoes. No, women who wanted candy had to suck off G.I.s and it was Hershey’s without almonds.

I agree that Lewis sold that shit hard in the book and I expected shit-my-pants ecstasy from Turkish Delight and it sucked. I tried it as an adult and I love it.

I’m thinking of passing out hard candies as pacifiers when people ask for money. I don’t know how Turkish Delight would go over. Crystallized ginger would be great, but the wrappers are awful and I don’t want to torture homeless people.

[quote] Can any Turkish man on DL tell me what "Endreshe" is please?

It may be flower scented/tasting.

Rose Geranium?

R13 = Eustace Scrubb

[quote] I don’t want to torture homeless people

Yes you do. I know I do.

Thank you R14 and R15. I should have guessed the flavor would be a fucking flower.

Go watch the movie Turkish Delight with Rutger Hauer instead, it will titillate you more than the crappy dessert ever will.

Is there sour Turkish Delight? Like Sour Patch Turkish Delight? Is that a thing? Should it be?

The chocolate-covered kind is pretty good.

Turkey needs a new candy

[quote] Turkey needs a new candy

Turkey needs a new name.

R22, that looks disgusting.

R25 you literally have me laughing out loud. Thank you.

I was only aware of the chocolate-covered kind as a child which I thought was disgusting (it's the one that's always in the variety packs with the highest amount too, which sucks), and I couldn't understand why Edmund was so enamoured of it at the time. Plus, I've never been hugely into gelatine sweets. But I have to say when I was in Turkey I tried some proper lokum, and I really did enjoy the standard rose water flavoured one. Maybe it's an acquired taste, or something you grow into? I wouldn't choose it that often, mind you, but I do like it now.

R13's post made me think of that Laurie Anderson song: "I'm thinking back to when I was a child / way back to when I was a tot / when I was an embryo / A tiny speck, just a dot / when I was a Hershey bar in my father's back pocket."

R27 I don't know if you're a gay man, but if you are, is it safe in Turkey being gay?

Fucking disgusting flower flavored candy.

Smelly jelly Of mediocre texture and Taste you jest

Yep, am a gay man, R28. I was only there for about 9 days, so it's hard to say. This was in 2011. Turkey is secular and more open than other places, but I still felt this weird kind of "these topics are off limits" vibe, which was a bit constricting. However with the gay thing it was interesting. My friends who I was staying with made it a point of outing me to their Turkish friends, which I was pretty uncomfortable with, not knowing what to expect. The general feeling wasn't anything but curiosity though, in fact a few of them denied I could be gay because I was masculine and not a cross-dresser. The women wanted me to date them or their daughters. The idea seemed to be that gay=man who dresses as a woman and wants to be a woman basically. So I guess I'm glad that I opened up their mind a bit more to what gay means. And even now, years later, the Turkish men I met still write to me on my birthday and tell me "We love you and miss you".

Just my experience, anyway.

^ Just to clarify, they are straight men - it just shows they really didn't seem to have any issues with it as far as remaining friends and caring about me, so...

Interesting R31, although what kind of friends "out" you in a country where being gay could put you in physical danger? Maybe I'm missing some context or history here but why would your friends so casually disregard your safety?

The same ones that loudly refer problem drinkers to you because you’re sober, R33

I love properly made Turkish delight. It needs to contain lots of chopped walnuts and have real fruit juice like apricot or orange.

Yeah, that was a bit weird, and as strong as I have been even in my own country with being openly gay, I felt quite nervous for a bit. The reason they did it is I think they thought they were helping me. When I went to Turkey, the girls there were throwing themselves at me, quite aggressively. A number of them wanted something romantic from me, and the mothers were getting in on it too, trying to set me up with their daughters. Finally my friends, who are Turkish but grew up in London just said: "Leave him alone, he's gay!" And that's when the conversation started. But there was no violence, or aggression or unhappiness about it. At the most, confusion, because I didn't look like what they thought a gay man looked like. Still, one of the girls did say to her friend afterwards: "I don't think you're right, I think he must like men AND women" and she still chased me a bit.

R13, after you do it, PLEASE come start a thread on how passing hard candy to homeless people went over. You must!

Hmmm, I guess that's more understandable R36. I thought they were maybe doing it because they thought it would be "funny" or something. Still.... you should pay them back and punish them by sending them some Turkish Delight. That'll show'em! Make it geranium flavored.

I love Turkish Delight. But it's nothing like what I expected after reading Narnia. Most candy of that period - divinity, seafoam, pralines, pastilles - doesn't live up to the rather la-de-dah nomenclature.

Turkey is becoming less and less secular under Trump’s mentor Erdogan.

That's true R40. And interestingly, those Turkish people I met, judging from what I've seen them post online in the past few years HATE Erdogan.

R41, same here. Several gay Turkish men have told me that they prefer the secular military, who used to control things behind the civilian governments, to come back into power.

I like aplets and cotlets which are Turkish delight but flavored with apples and apricots respectively. The company has added more flavors in recent years, but they're too sweet for my taste. The blueberry is especially gross.

I didn't know they were Turkish delight when I was a child, and, so, when I read the Chronicles of Narnia, I imagined it to be much more luscious and tempting than the real thing. I would not sell out my family for such a relatively mediocre treat.

Turkish people can have a very confusing approach to homosexuality. I used to live in Haringey in London, which has a large Turkish community. The men are often sexually available, but they would be very offended if you said they were gay. Their idea of a homosexual is a transvestite bottom. A man who fucks men is a big shot.

Yes R44! That was exactly the impression I got as well on what their idea of a homosexual is.

One of the guys I met whilst there did cling to me quite a bit, but I never knew what it was about because men there are also more physically affectionate on a friendship level anyway. But I do wish we'd been left alone for a bit so I could've found out a bit more... 😉

I could have written OP's post. Read Narnia, begged my mom for Turkish Delight, tasted it, crashing disappointment.

As an adult, I like it, especially with nuts. But now it's free of expectations.

Baklava and Turkish delight is good in Istanbul. All confiseries artisanales are best in the locality. This is important for few ingredient preparations - such as a pain au chocolate or Turkish delight. You can have the ingredients but the result is meh.

The Babish was not a fan:

Chocolate covered Turkish Delight was one of my dad's favourites. I prefer the sugar coated cubes as in R1, lemon and rose are my favourites. One or two are just enough to satisfy a sweet craving.

Am I the only one who thought that pic in OP's post was pornographic at first glance?

[quote]Wtf is Endreshe? I Googled that shit and even Google is stumped!

I googled it, and came up with "Indrishe or lezetra ( Pelargonium roseum ) is a potted plant of the genus geranium and geranium with a strong, pleasant aroma. Its typical use in Bulgaria is as a spice for flavoring cakes and compotes."

(The Wiki link is in Bulgarian; use Google translate)

R48.... URKISH DELIGH.

When I first saw the OP's post, I thought he was referring to the Paul Verhoeven film.

Anyway, R20 is right.

I like it, but one thing I found very puzzling about it after a trip to Cyprus was that you could not bring it back in your hand luggage because it was classified as a liquid, which I thought was stupid.

I made it myself at home once and it was really difficult, and ended up not holding its shape at all.

Rose and Orange Blossom is a nice, subtle and unusual flavour. I don't really like the ones with nuts in it.

I thought he was talking about the movie too. I saw it when I was in elementary school and remember there being a huge skank in it.

Don’t like overly sweet food of any sort so some flavours of it I have tried in Istanbul, which were either delicate or nutty, I thought were great.

LOVE IT! More for me, fat whores!

When I was a kid and read the book, I always imagined Turkish Delight as something chocolately and luscious, like really good chocolate caramels.

My midwestern American school sold Turkish Foot Candy one time. It as a big bomb.

WTF is "Foot Candy," R59?

Is that DL fave Tilda Swinton in the op?

It’s like any other old-time candy that modern palates don’t enjoy. Like maple sugar candy. Violently sweet (Even for a modern kid) and raw-tasting. Oooh I hated that stuff.

[quote]Is that DL fave Tilda Swinton in the op?

Obviously. From the shitty Narnia movies.

It's something that kids who don't have readily available fast food and candy bars crave. The subtle sweetness and rarity of it made it special.

Now, we can get almost anything we want when we want it. So small things like unusual desserts have lost their magic. It's sad really. Wonder and anticipation have faded in the world.

Mmmm. R64, isn't it true that 'Narnia' is to stories what 'Turkish Delight' is to candy?

R65, in one of the Little House books, the kids were overjoyed to get a precious orange in their Christmas stockings! That amazed me as a kid, because we would get a crate of them shipped to us every winter and were pretty much required to eat them.

Aplets and Cotlets used to be ubiquitous, but I don't recall having seen them too much lately (or maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough.)

The people who started Aplets and Cotlets were Armenian immigrants, so I guess it's understandable why they wouldn't call them Turkish Delights.

[quote] I’m thinking of passing out hard candies as pacifiers when people ask for money. I don’t know how Turkish Delight would go over.

Just be sure when you pass it out, you say scornfully, "Turkish Delight for the little prince! HA!"

[quote] [R65], in one of the Little House books, the kids were overjoyed to get a precious orange in their Christmas stockings!

Well, remember both how poor they were, and also how exotic an orange would be for them. In the 19th century it was hard to ship fruit from Florida or California to the Midwest.

R51 : I.e. Rose Geranium.

Also used in Greek food.

IMO, it’s sweet and lacking complexity. It’s probably made to eat with that really strong Turkish coffee. Some Japanese sweets are like that, made to be eaten with unsweetened matcha.

OP Are you the American who comes abroad an asks the rest of us “why don’t you speak English?”

I really dislike exotic sweets. Indian sweets are too much too.

Has anyone ever tried Greek spoon sweets? My mother's side of the family is Greek, but I don't recall anyone ever making them.

They look lovely but too sweet for me, R76.

[quote] Am I the only one who thought that pic in OP's post was pornographic at first glance?

It IS pornographic.

[quote] The people who started Aplets and Cotlets were Armenian immigrants, so I guess it's understandable why they wouldn't call them Turkish Delights.

Much like it's understandable that we don't call it "genocide".

So nasty. I’ve given it’s three chances now and it always disappoints

R80 and now I'm picturing Darth Vader crushing a box in one vast gloved hand and snarling "You have disappointed me for the last time, Turkish Delight..."

Turkish Delight (1973) is an excellent Dutch film starring a very young and hot Rutger Hauer. Erotic, lots of male and female nudity, hilarious, and sad. Nominated for the foreign language film Oscar. So glad I have the DVD!

Didn’t that bitch Olga die at the end?

Had some during a brief stay in Istanbul and it defines mediocre. The numerous coffee house/bakeries selling fresh baked baklava, however, is a very fond memory -- incredible. And needless to say, the fascinating [old] Istanbul Airport has mountains of Turkish Delight for sale. Along with an "evil eye" it's a ubiquitous souvenir to bring back from Turkey.

I have my "evil eye" sitting on the bedside table next to me right now, haha. We were given them at a wedding I went to in Turkey. Many of my friends swear by them - Turks, Greeks, Italians, Maltese, Egyptians... so I figure it can't hurt!

I thought it was just seafoam candy.

*Delightful bump*

I like the basic rosewater Turkish Delight covered with powdered sugar and no others.

[R67] [R71] ]My mother was a child in St Louis in the 30s and received an orange in her stocking at Christmas. And she came from a family with a small grocery. Refrigerated trucks were invented in 1938, patented 1940. It was indeed a treat. We always got the same, but for traditon, not scarcity. Now in our family we give the seasonal "chocolate orange."