How to Make Turkish Delight
Sweet and slightly exotic, Turkish delight is a popular Middle Eastern candy that can be made and flavored in a variety of ways. Learn how to make it at home and customize it to suit your taste.
Several years ago, our family went on a European cruise that brought us to Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Kusadasi, Turkey. Of course, when cruising, you only make short stops in touristy areas. So, of course, I do not proclaim myself an expert in anything Turkish.
While I was there, though, rather than picking up an “authentic fake watch” (Yes, that was on a sign I saw!), I bought two beautiful hand-painted bowls and several boxes of Turkish delight.
What is Turkish delight?
Turkish delight, also traditionally known as lokum, is a sweet gel confection made with sugar and starch. It can be flavored in a number of ways, often with nuts, citrus fruits, and/or rose water. The most common is probably the pink-colored rose-flavored lokum, but other popular varieties use pistachios and walnuts. It’s very popular in the Middle East but has gained popularity in other parts of the world.
This gel-based sweet has piqued my interest ever since I watched an animated movie of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (from the Chronicles of Narnia) at my grandparents’ house as a kid. In the story, the white witch lures young Edmund Pevensie with this delectable treat. His love of Turkish delight was enough to get him to betray his family and join her.
With my love of trying new things, especially anything exotic or with a “perfumed” type flavor (like litchees or roses), I knew I had to give it a try.
What does it taste like?
I suspected that I would like Turkish delight, but wasn’t prepared for how much I would like it. Normally, I don’t eat a lot of sweets. In fact, I really only have a hard time passing on licorice and its chewy texture.
With my first bite of rose-flavored Turkish delight, though, I was immediately taken in by its exotic flavors combined with that chewy texture that I adore. Unfortunately, the boxes I had bought were a bit deceiving. They were quite large but were well padded. I was a bit disappointed to find that I had really only brought back a few pieces of this new treat I loved so much.
The other variety I bought was more like a nougat with peanuts and pistachios. Both were delicious.
Making a traditional Turkish delight
So, I was determined to learn to make Turkish delight from scratch at home. After seeing numerous recipes, I figured making it must be easy. Unfortunately, after numerous attempts, I wasn’t completely happy with the outcome. I ended up with a sweet treat with a delicious rose flavor, but felt that it lacked a bit of chewiness.
Traditional Turkish delight is made with a starch and sugar. You have to play with the gelling of the starch and the hardening of the sugar mixture to get the right texture. (In contrast, some modern versions use gelatin or a similar gelling agent to achieve its characteristic chewiness.) While my boxes of Turkish delight had corn starch as the main starch used, I imagine that the truly traditional versions of this treat called for other starches instead.
When I published my first Turkish delight recipe on this blog, I used corn starch (as most recipes do) and avoided adding wheat because I was testing out a gluten-free diet at the time. (Wheat flour was on the list of ingredients of the lokum I had bought.)
Many people enjoyed the recipe, but I still wasn’t happy. I didn’t get consistent results with the recipe and found it to be finicky. I also wasn’t sure about the texture achieved with corn starch alone.
What didn’t work
While my first attempts resulted in a flavor that was spot-on, the texture was a lot lighter and softer, not at all chewy like the Turkish delight I had bought in Turkey. So, I tried numerous times to get it right.
I’m almost embarrassed to say how many times I have tried to make this.
Experimenting with the texture
When you rely on the cornstarch to thicken the candy, you end up with a semi-solid mass of candy, but it is more like a solid gel and not at all chewy. On the other hand, a chewy candy such as taffy is made by achieving a certain temperature with a mixture of sugar and water. So, I decided to experiment using different temperatures for the sugar and water mixture.
During my first attempts, I brought the sugar to 240ºF, just above the point where the sugar is inverted (more on that in a sec), and then added in the cornstarch solution. I ended up with a rose-flavored jelly treat that wasn’t at all chewy. It was sort of gelatinous in texture (although that doesn’t really describe it well either).
I then tried heating the sugar solution to the hardball stage before adding in the cornstarch solution. The result? A chewy Turkish delight that wasn’t so powerfully sweet, but with a caramelized sugar flavor reminiscent of flan.
The challenge was to get something in between.
Comparing the textures of the store bought Turkish delight (left, bottom) to a softer, early attempt (right, bottom) and a chewier version (top) 
Various attempts at Turkish delight by the boxed candy I bought in Turkey. 
Two versions of homemade Turkish delight
In my first published recipe, I settled on heating the syrup to 260ºF. (Even at that temperature, though, the candy can take on a more caramelized flavor.)
Unfortunately, with that first recipe, I found there was a lot of room for error, even when following the recipe carefully and monitoring temperatures along the way. The final result depended on the cooking time, the humidity of the cooking space, etc.
I have since found that using other starches is the key to getting great texture without all of the hassle.
Adding the starch mixture
Many recipes online tell you to make a sugar syrup first and then make a separate paste out of the starch (normally cornstarch) and water. You are then supposed to mix everything together and cook the mixture longer. While I tried that method first, I didn’t see any benefit to making a separate paste out of only starch and water. It only made for difficult blending later on. Instead, I found it much easier to add an uncooked mixture of water and cornstarch to the sugar syrup and cook them together to thicken them.
From what I have read about Turkish delight production, it seems to be the usual way of making it anyway.
Adding the flavoring
Most recipes have you add the rosewater or other flavorings right before pouring the mixture into the mold, once you’ve achieved the desired consistency.
Adding flavorings such as rose water at the end, though, adds more moisture to the mixture. That, of course, inevitably changes the final texture, softening the candy. I’ve found that with my new recipe, it’s fine to add the rose water as part of the water used at the beginning. The flavor holds up quite well through the cooking process.
Another option? I found a recipe from a Turkish girl who flavored her Turkish delight with rose oil. While that sounds like a great solution, it’s also an expensive one for most of us.
Ingredients
So, after years of experimentation, I’ve finally found a recipe that I’ve been able to reproduce successfully several times now. The key to getting the texture and flavor I wanted was to use a different starch.
My first success used a 50/50 mixture of wheat flour and cornstarch. The wheat flour helped get a chewy texture that worked really well for this recipe. Still, it was tricky to cook it down enough to get the candy firm enough. (Those who’d like to give it a try, though, can substitute out half of the cornstarch in my original cornstarch-based recipe.)
In the end, my favorite version uses rice flour instead of cornstarch.
Other than the rice flour, I used white sugar, water, and some citric acid. I flavored my candy with rosewater, but you can add other flavorings instead. If you want to make pink candy, you’ll also want to use some red food coloring. (On my first attempt, I used homemade beetroot powder and it worked quite well as a natural food coloring!)
Perhaps in the future I’ll try with other starches. I’d love to hear from those of you who have done that sort of experimentation!
Does it need cream of tartar?
Most recipes for Turkish delight use cream of tartar, many insisting that it’s very important for the recipe. My conclusion, after some investigation, is that the cream of tartar is only being used to acidulate the mixture. The sugar syrup you make at the beginning is also known as invert sugar. It helps keep your final candy from crystalizing.
As cream of tartar isn’t easily available in Spain (nor was it listed on my box of Turkish delight), I used citric acid instead. To make invert sugar you slowly cook the water, sugar, and citric acid (or cream of tartar) until you end up with a syrup around 236ºF. If you don’t have citric acid, you can also use lemon juice to bring down the pH.
Incidentally, some recipes added the cream of tartar to the cornstarch mixture rather than to the sugar syrup. I’m not really sure what they were intending to do, but I feel like they sort of missed the point of what the cream of tartar was actually meant to do.
Making Turkish Delight with Cornstarch
Before beginning, prepare the mold you plan on using. I used a small silicone mold greased with coconut oil. If you don’t have silicone pans, line a small baking pan with wax or parchment paper. (Consider greasing the paper with oil or butter to keep the candy from sticking to it.)
Mix together the sugar, water, and citric acid in a heavy bottom pan over medium to high heat. Bring the mixture to a slight boil before lowering the heat.
Continue to cook the mixture over low to medium heat until you reach 240ºF. While you shouldn’t stir the mixture throughout the process (as this can affect the temperature), you can occasionally use a spatula to wipe down any sugar crystals from the side of the pan.
As the sugar syrup cooks, mix together the cornstarch, water, and rose water.
Mix starch and water. 
Bring sugar syrup to 140ºF. 
Add the starch mixture to the sugar syrup.
When the sugar syrup reaches the right temperature, take it off the heat source. Pour some of the sugar syrup into the starch solution to warm it. Then, drizzle the starch mixture into the hot sugar syrup while continuously stirring them together.
Once combined, cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. It should soon get quite thick. If you have a hard time removing the lumps, you can use an immersion blender to help achieve a smooth texture.
To achieve a chewy candy, you will want to reduce and thicken it even more. That can be achieved by cooking it for quite some time over low heat until you get the desired consistency.
Check the consistency by adding some of the hot mixture to cold water to cool it. When the cooled mixture can be shaped well and hold its shape, the mixture is ready and you can pour it into the prepared mold. Spread it out as best you can with a spatula. It should be very thick and sticky.
Let cool for several hours.
Unmold the mixture onto a clean counter sprinkled with cornstarch. Cut the candy into small squares with a sharp knife, coating each of them with cornstarch to keep the candies from sticking to one another.
Preventing sticking
Most recipes call for coating the candy with powdered sugar or a combination of powdered sugar and cornstarch to prevent them from sticking to one another. The Turkish delight I bought in Turkey was only dusted with cornstarch and not with sugar. Turkish delight is already very sweet. Plus, the candy may “sweat” causing the sugar coating to “melt” off of the candy. That’s why I don’t recommend coating the candy in powdered sugar.
I recommend coating the candy with the starch you’ve used instead. If using sugar, you may have to add starch to it or reapply the coating before serving your candy.
Making Turkish delight with rice flour
You can probably guess by my introduction, that my new favorite method for making Turkish delight uses rice flour. The process is simpler, and I prefer the result. You don’t even need a candy thermometer!
To make Turkish delight with rice flour, mix together all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Whisk the ingredients together, concentrating on getting out any lumps. Cook the mixture over medium to high heat until it begins to boil. Then, lower the heat to low to medium, stirring often.
As you cook the mixture, it will get thicker and thicker. It will also turn a more golden color. When you notice it changing color and getting quite thick, turn the heat down to very low, stirring occasionally.
Check on the candy by placing some of the mixture into very cold water. When you can form it and it holds its shape, it’s ready to pour into a prepared mold. (Silicone molds can be greased with butter or oil. Other molds can be lined with a clean cloth covered with a thick layer of starch or lined with parchment paper that has been greased with oil or butter.)
Combine all ingredients. 
Optionally, add food coloring. 
Cook until thickened. 
Allow the candy to fully cool before cutting into small pieces.
Troubleshooting
The trickiest part of making Turkish delight is to get the texture just right. If you don’t cook the mixture long enough to evaporate off all of the excess water, the mixture won’t be firm enough.
Some people prefer a softer Turkish delight. To obtain that, it won’t be as necessary to cook off as much moisture.
I, on the other hand, prefer the candy to have a bit of “bite”. To fix a batch of soft Turkish delight, you can reheat it and continue cooking off the excess water. You can then pour it back into the mold when you feel it’s ready.
Trying to cook off all the water, though, is easier said than done. Even on low heat, it’s easy to start caramelizing the mixture (or even burning it) when there isn’t a lot of water left. To prevent that, you should continuously stir it, but there is an easier way…
Melting Turkish delight to further cook it. 
Baked Turkish delight 
A great trick I’ve found is to bake the almost finished mixture directly in the mold! This allows you to gently heat and evaporate away the excess water without overly cooking and caramelizing the sugar! If you try this method, keep the oven at its lowest setting. (I bet a dehydrator would also work well!)
Storage
Store Turkish delight in an airtight container at room temperature, coated in starch. Because of the high sugar content and the low moisture, it is safe to eat for many weeks/months, but will lose freshness with time.
I’ve found that the Turkish delight made with cornstarch is more likely to “sweat” and become soggy with time while the one made with rice flour gets dry with time.
Video
Traditional Turkish Delight Recipe (Using Cornstarch)
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup water
- ⅛ teaspoon citric acid or lemon juice or cream of tartar
- ½ cup water
- ⅝ cup cornstarch
- Rose flavor to taste- rose water, syrup, or oil
- Red coloring (optional)
- extra cornstarch for dusting
Instructions
- Prepare your molds. I used silicone molds greased with coconut oil. If you don’t have silicone pans, line other pans with greased wax or parchment paper. (The final candy will be sticky, and that will help with the unmolding process.)
- Begin by mixing together the first 3 ingredients (sugar, 3/4 c. water, and citric acid) in a heavy bottom pan, and bring to a slight boil before lowering the heat.
- Heat, without needing to stir, over low to medium heat until you reach 260ºF. You can occasionally use a spatula to wipe down any sugar crystals from the side of the pan throughout this process.
- Meanwhile, mix together the solution of cornstarch and the remaining ½ cup of water.
- When the sugar syrup has reached the right temperature, temporarily take it off the heat source and ladle in a bit of the sugar syrup into the cornstarch mixture to warm it.
- Slowly drizzle the cornstarch mixture into the sugar syrup while continuously stirring them together.
- Once all of the cornstarch solution has been completely incorporated, begin to stir the mixture over low heat. You will notice that the mixture should get quite thick almost immediately.
- Despite the fact that the mixture is quite thick, you will want to reduce and thicken it even more before adding in your flavorings. I found it was best to keep the mixture over a low heat so that the sugar wouldn’t caramelize on the bottom, affecting the flavor of the final product.
- As you heat and stir, you should notice that the gel becomes quite transparent. It will also reduce slightly in volume.
- To determine the point when you should add your flavoring, test the consistency of your candy by dipping a spoon into the gel, and then dipping the gel covered spoon into a glass of ice water. As the candy cools, you can judge the consistency and stop when you are happy with it. The longer you cook the candy at this stage, the chewier it will become and the more it will hold its shape at room temperature.
- Add in your flavorings and colorings. I wanted a strong rose flavor like the one in the turkish delight I bought in Turkey so I used a combination of 2 Tbsp. rose water, and 2 Tbsp. rose syrup. (In the first trials, I used only rose water, and it seemed to be enough for the softer versions of the candy. As you heat it more, though, the flavor gets more subtle, so I needed to add more flavor to compensate for that. You can check the flavor when you check the texture in ice water.)
- Once you’ve incorporated all of your flavorings, check the texture once more to make sure that the addition of any new liquids hasn’t affected the consistency of your candy too much. If necessary, slightly mix and warm your mixture a little longer at very low heat to help evaporate a little water, but be careful and take into account that doing this for too long can alter and diminish the flavorings you have added.
- When you are happy with your result, pour the mixture into your prepared molds and spread it out as best you can with a spatula. It should be very thick and sticky.
- Let cool for several hours.
- Cut into small squares, using cornstarch to keep the candies from sticking to one another. All of the recipes I found online either used powdered sugar or a combination of powdered sugar and cornstarch for dusting the candies, preventing them from sticking to one another. The turkish delight I bought in turkey was only dusted with cornstarch and wasn’t dusted with sugar, something I find to be unnecessary as the turkish delight is already very sweet. If you do choose to use powdered sugar for dusting, keep in mind that the candy may sweat and the sugar coating may end up “melting” off of the candy so you may have to add in more cornstarch or reapply the coating before serving your candy.
Turkish delight (Rice Flour version)
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup rice flour
- ¾ cup water
- 2 tablespoons rose water
- ⅛ teaspoon citric acid
Instructions
- Prepare a mold for the candy. Silicone molds can be greased with butter or oil. Other molds can be lined with a clean cloth covered with a thick layer of starch or lined with parchment paper that has been greased with oil or butter.
- Mix together all of the ingredients in a saucepan, whisking to remove lumps.
- Cook the mixture over medium to high heat until it begins to boil. Then, lower the heat to low to medium, stirring often.
- As you cook the mixture, it will get thicker and thicker. It will also turn a more golden color. When you notice it changing color and getting quite thick, turn the heat down to very low, stirring occasionally.
- Check on the candy by placing some of the mixture into very cold water. When you can form the cooled mixture and it holds its shape, it's ready to pour into the prepared mold.
- Allow the candy to fully cool before cutting into small pieces.
This post was originally published on July 28, 2015. It was rewritten, adding a new rice flour recipe, new photos, and improvements to the recipe instructions.
Hi, thank you so much for your reply!!! I think you are right! The mixture hardened almost immediately when I poured into the tray!!! Literally hard candy!
I did some research too.. I also noticed that my sugar thermometer states 260F as hard ball stage (it’s one of those that has number and words describing which stage your sugar is at.) So I will try again and this time only boil the sugar syrup to soft ball stage, correct? Also, could also tell me the estimated time it took for your mixture to get to the gel stage after you added the cornstarch to the sugar syrup (the picture with the whisk in it). Thank you!!!
Hi Maureen,
You’re welcome, and I wish I could be of more help. 🙂
If I remember right, I did take the sugar part of the recipe to the hard ball stage to help give the final candy a chewier texture because after adding in the liquid and cornstarch mixture, the temp should go back down and you’ll no longer have a hard ball. I hope that kind of makes sense.
In any case, most of the recipes didn’t take it up that high, and kept it at a soft ball stage. I tried it that way, and it also worked out fine. It just wasn’t quite as chewy- and the final candy ended up more jelly-like. I was looking for something between a jelly and a caramel. (Using the combination of the cornstarch- which gives the rubbery/jelly like texture, and the sugar which gives the caramel/taffy like texture.)
It’s all about playing with a combination of the two to get the combination that works best for you, and gives you the texture you like best. I will say that keeping the temp. down with the sugar part will also help keep the final candy from getting a caramelized flavor that may go against the rose flavoring.
As for how long it took to get the gel stage… I think that was almost instantly for me, so I’m not exactly sure what happened in your case. I’m pretty sure I got a gel right away, but cooked it longer to reduce it further.
If you come up with a better solution of how to achieve the perfect texture, I’d love to hear it.
I, in a way, posted this recipe to share the results of my experiments hoping that we could all work together to see if we could figure out how to make it perfect. While I ended up with a decent candy in the end, I still sort of think of the recipe as a work in progress.
Hi, I tried your recipe exactly, but after I slowly drizzled the cornstarch into the mixture, it did not thicken up into the gel like state as per the photo with the whisk. It was still liquid state. I decided to continue stirring. For another good half hour until the mixture seemed to have thickened (at this point looked promising, but still no gel like state) suddenly the mixture looked light brown. I decided to do your ice water test and when the spoon came out, it was hard candy! I immediately removed the pan from the heat. Am waiting for it to cool now but don’t expect any good results. Would you be able to advise where did I go wrong?
I did stir the pan before the sugar boiled, but not after.
Hi Maureen,
I feel your pain after making the recipe again and again. I’ve since chatted with several other people who have done a lot of experimentation with trying to make Turkish delight, and we’ve come to the conclusion that it is a very finicky recipe which for some reason doesn’t always come out the same way even when you do things “exactly the same.”
I chatted with one person who had tried so many methods and began trying with the addition of guar gum and other thickeners because he was pretty sure that they’re hiding things on the labels of the commercial stuff. The balance between the sugar being heated to a high enough texture to give it a chewy consistency (Without going so far as to caramelize it and change its flavor), and the cornstarch thickening the liquid- making a softer, more rubbery texture is very tricky to achieve, so I’m not sure how they make it commercially. I spent hours scouring the internet for information to try to find the key to the perfect Turkish delight every time, but, unfortunately, I can’t claim to have found it. I found a way to get something that was satisfactory to me, but it wasn’t perfect-
Going back to yours, though…
It sounds like your sugar mixture got too hot because the overall mixture shouldn’t get to hard ball stage, and it really shouldn’t brown. Caramelizing too far results in a different texture and a caramelized flavor like what you’d get when making flan. While it’s not a particularly unpleasant flavor, it masks the delicate rose flavor that you want with turkish delight.
I’ve also since been told that not all corn starches are created equal, and that some have additives that can change the way they behave in these sorts of recipes. I haven’t had a chance to look into it, but that could be another potential area for variation.
It’s been a long time since I’ve experimented with this, so maybe I’ll have to give it another shot.
I’ve been considering trying with other flours and, perhaps, gelatins to try to get something with more consistent results and which, hopefully, would also be a tad healthier than the traditional version. 😉
I wish I could be of more help.
Good Lord, I am not alone in this home made Turkish delight obsession! I have been at it for weeks now and I can’t tell you how many pounds of sugar I have been through. I am also trying to incorporate mastic into the mix and have been experimenting with agar agar. Thank you so much for your detailed advice. Once more into the kitchen….
Hi Laurie,
Frustrating, isn’t it?
I just got an email from somebody who has been trying with the addition of guar gum and other thickeners. He’s pretty sure that they’re hiding things on the labels of the commercial stuff. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised.
I told him to let us know if he comes up with a successful combination so that I can help others out!
I’d love to hear if you come up with a good combination too. 🙂
I like the idea of using agar agar or gelatin. I have seen lots of recipes using one or the other, but the purists were always looking down at those methods. To me it seems like a healthier option, though– not that this is really a healthy recipe in any way. 😉
After 3 long hours of cooking, I finally gave up. It never got thick and jelly like, and there were a lot of little cornstarch junks. Too bad!
Hi Anne,
I’m sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you.
When you say that you ended up with a lot of cornstarch chunks?, it makes me think that you didn’t have the cornstarch well dissolved into the water before adding it to the rest of the mixture.
I will admit that this recipe can be very finicky because of the nature of having to reach an equilibrium between the setting of the sugar solution and the thickening of the cornstarch mixture, but you shouldn’t have cornstarch chunks by any means. That should only happen if you were to add the cornstarch directly to the hot mixture (rather than first dissolving it in room temperature or cold water), something that you shouldn’t be doing in this recipe.
Hello,
Very nice description you have. Made a lot of things clearer.
I have tried making Turkish delight 2 times now. Both times it went pretty well to start with. When I have mixed the corn starch and the syrup it looks good and thick to begin with but after boiling at low temperature for around 1 hour it became less and less thick. To end up al to thin. Do you have any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
Hi Sebastian,
Thank you!
It’s been awhile since I’ve made turkish delight, and, to be honest, I remember getting frustrated that even when using the same ingredients, I had things come out slightly differently each time. It is a bit of a finicky recipe. I remember some of my earlier batches were really only solid in the fridge. They were all edible, but weren’t the right consistency at room temperature like with the ones I bought in Turkey.
Once you poured it into a mold, did yours thicken up again upon cooling?
My batches always got thicker the longer I heated them, as the moisture evaporated, so I’m not really sure what happened with yours.
From everything I’ve read, it seems to me that when making turkish delight to sell, they cook it at low heat for a long time. Perhaps differences in some of the ingredients may make a difference? (Certain corn starches may have fillers or something?)
In any case, you’ve stumped me.
The turkish delight relies on the two different mechanisms of thickening- 1. by the sugar being heated to a high enough texture to give it a chewy consistency, and 2. by the cornstarch thickening the liquid- making a softer, more rubbery (for lack of a better word) texture. To get the texture right, you have to find a delicate balance between the two.
I wish I could be of more help.
Hi again,
Thank you for your reply 🙂
My earlier batches did thicken up upon cooling but not enough to be able making squares that with god result.
Did one more try yesterday, this time they got much better consistency? But I wish they got a lite chewier like the ones I remember from Turkey.
I compared your recipe with another one I have tried earlier. In your recipe its half the amount of water in the cornstarch mix and 35% more cornstarch. And you boil the sugar syrup to a higher temperature. 160 vs 140 deg F. This time I used your recipe, before I used the other because it was in metric and if I use the converter on your site the amounts is hard to understand with strange fractions.
Hi Sebastian,
Yes, I used the higher temperature with the sugar mixture because that helps give the chewier texture that you are looking for. As the temperature goes higher, you go from a syrup to a more caramel like texture and eventually can end up with a hard candy. I went too far with one of my attempts and my candy was very tough and sticky.
The cornstarch and water mixture give a somewhat jelly like texture. It helps mellow out the taffy texture achieved with the sugar syrup, but if too much water is added, you end up throwing off what you have achieved with the stage of your sugar mixture. It’s a delicate balance- which is why it can be tricky and can turn out differently on repeated attempts even using the same recipe. I think it probably has to do with the amount of water that evaporates throughout the process which make a big difference in the texture. That’s what can make this process a bit frustrating.
I’ll try to take a look at the measurements in the recipe and see if I can help with the conversions. The recipe app that I use does the automatic converting, so I’m not really sure about how it goes about doing it. I was just about to go to bed here in Spain, so it will have to be another day.
Tx Tracy. No problems. So sorry to hear of your dietary issues. When I read that on the blog, I assumed it was gluten, as most corn starch/flour is made from wheat but the popcorn issue puts a different spin on things. I’ll let you know of my results. Ik
Thanks, That would be great! 🙂
Hi Tracy,
Tx for the recipe! I’ve tried twice with online recipes and ended with with a grainy mess (which your tips have helped me figure out the reason – cooking the 2 solutions separately then mixing them). Could I ask how long u stirred – a number of recipes (e.g. Felicity Cloake) says 50 mins? Ik
You’re welcome!
Yes, I wasn’t very successful with most recipes online, but, that said, even with my own recipe I found that the consistency varied a lot from batch to batch and couldn’t really figure out why. Perhaps, then, it does have to do with the amount of time or how often it is stirred.
I wish that I could remember how long I stirred it. It’s been a long time since I made it now and I don’t remember. I had to give up on it and leave you with my best resulting batch in the end because I realized that I was getting sick whenever I ate it…
I’ve since noticed that I’ve been having issues with organic popcorn too so it’s most likely the corn from the cornstarch that was causing me problems. 🙁
If you crack the code, I’d love to hear about it anyway because it would really help others out.
I’d be happy to update the post with notes about what has worked best for others.
Yes pasta is tricky, isn’t it! Even the pros haven’t perfected that one down yet; I buy the rice/quinoa pasta from Trader Joe’s, and it’s pretty good, but it still has a bit of a gluey texture if it cooks even a bit too long. I try to avoid processed foods and too much wheat flour, but I’m not really all that familiar with the paleo diet – are potatoes allowed? I was wondering if potato flour or potato starch might work in a combination with some other flour in the pasta, since that it used in making gnocchi…? But maybe it doesn’t roll out well, and that’s why the gnocchi are just little doughballs :). I know what you mean about being stubborn and wanting to make something a certain way. I tried for the longest time to make good gluten-free bread, but I never did make anything I really liked.
I have never made mochi but I am intrigued! I love that chewy/doughy kind of texture…have you ever had those Chinese black sesame ball dumplings? It’s funny, I don’t really even have a sweet tooth, but there are certain (unhealthy) things I crave now and then. Yes winter came much too soon this year, I had visions of many recipes using seasonal fruits that never came to be.
Good luck with your pasta quest :)!
Thanks, Samantha.
I’ll keep trying.
Paleo doesn’t really allow rice or potatoes.
While I don’t strictly follow it, I do feel better when I’m eating more paleo-ish 😉 and I know that there are a lot of people that follow my blog that are paleo so I like to try to make things paleo when I can. Pretty much anybody can eat something that is paleo, but not the other way around, you know? That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t post a recipe with either rice or potatoes, though. I really just want to make sure to keep things gluten free.
I don’t know anything about the black sesame ball dumplings, but that sounds good. I LOVE sesame anything. 🙂
I bought mochi once, but didn’t really like the filling on the type available here- that’s one of the reasons I tried making my own.
I definitely want to do something fun with it for my blog eventually because it really isn’t difficult, and I, too, love the texture.
The only candy I really ever liked much growing up was licorice- which I have always loved because of the texture. I would love to come up with a gluten free licorice recipe. 😉
Yes I know what you mean, it’s not easy to find good gluten-free recipes, and I’m sure that applies to paleo as well! I have a friend who is a pastry chef who was trying to follow the paleo diet…she found it really difficult lol…I keep telling her she should start her own food blog.
I love licorice too, it’s always been a favourite for me :). And I love all things sesame; those black sesame dumplings are really good (and gluten free); you may find them in the freezer section of an Asian foods store, that’s where I’ve purchased them. I just saw a recipe for licorice that was similar to taffy, it has flour in it, but I’m sure it could be substituted, there’s not a lot…http://food52.com/blog/10953-how-to-make-black-licorice-from-scratch?affil=cj&utm_source=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Food52+Tailgate+Page. I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to soon! I want to use real licorice extract though, not just the anise and maybe Lyle’s instead of the corn syrup. I am planning to make candies for xmas presents this year (we’ll see how that goes :)).
Hi Tracy!
Thanks for all your work finding the perfect Turkish Delight recipe! I made it a few years ago, and just by luck happened to get the right texture on the first try. Then I tried making it again a week ago, and I got the too-soft and jelly-like texture, so I’m going to try again using your tips. You said you think you might be sensitive to corn…I’m wondering if you could make this with arrowroot starch? I also noticed in some of the old Turkish Delight recipes they used regular flour, but that would probably entail another round of experiments lol…
Hi Samantha,
Yes, it’s weird because I tried the same method several times and sometimes it seemed to work better than others, even when it seemed like I was doing everything the same.
I think the package that I bought in Turkey did have a bit of wheat flour, and I ate it anyway because I had been experimenting with adding wheat back into my diet while on my cruise (with not so pleasant results overall), but my blog is now officially gluten free as of over a year ago. That’s why I didn’t even attempt it with wheat. Most traditional recipes that I found don’t use it anyway.
I hadn’t even considered arrowroot, but that’s a great idea. The problem is that I can’t readily find it here in Spain. I’ve only seen it in small, expensive envelopes in the British supermarkets.
The recipes that would probably suit me the most would be the ones using gelatin. That would better fit with the paleo-ish diet that I normally follow, but because it isn’t the traditional way, I figured trying with gelatin could wait. (I wanted to try to make the traditional type while I still had real turkish delight to compare with mine.)
I was hesitant to even post the recipe because my blog is more of a real food blog that borders on being paleo, and this recipe pretty much conflicts with that, but I get obsessed with trying to make things and figured that perhaps my experiments could help somebody else crack the code. 😉
I think it’s good for people to see that I’m not super strict all of the time too.
I’d love to hear how it goes for you and if you have any tips that can help people try to make it.
Hi again Tracy…yes I noticed after I posted my comment that your blog was mostly gluten free! And afterwards during my search, I also started seeing recipes for the Japanese treat called mochi that looks like it has a similar texture to Turkish Delight, but that is made with the white rice flour…so that might be another possibility? I’m always experimenting too and looking for alternative ways to make things (I think maybe that’s part of the fun). I’m wondering if perhaps the key to the good Turkish Delight texture is finding that magic sugar/water stage where it’s between soft and hard and still chewy, and also cooking the starch enough that it loses that “starchy” quality and becomes clear and gloopy. I’ve noticed with baking/cooking other things that if the starch isn’t cooked long enough it stays kind of floury and never gets that smooth, glossy texture. Anyway, I hope you can find a Turkish Delight recipe that agrees with you! 🙂 It’s a shame when we can’t have the things we love because of a dietary restriction.
Great thoughts, Samantha!
Yes, I actually spent all morning working on a grain free pasta recipe that I’ve been working on forever. 🙂
Each time I feel like I’m that much closer to it being perfect, but because there is always one thing that bothers me, I never get around to posting it. It has a similar issue, though, with what you say about losing the starchy quality and changing its texture. I need to use tapioca flour to make up for the stretchy stickiness of gluten, but without cooking it first, it doesn’t work well with a pasta machine. I have a great uncooked version for rolling out with a pin, and I used it in my dim sum recipe, but it’s a very delicate dough that falls apart in the machine, so I’ve been trying to find a combination that is closer to “normal” pasta.
This morning I was so excited to come up with a method for a dough that worked perfectly in the pasta machine, but then it mostly fell apart and got mushy when I cooked it. (So, the opposite of the other dough)
I’m pretty sure it would work with some rice flour. I’ve made noodles with rice flour/tapioca flour before, but I’m a bit stubborn and want to make something that will be helpful for more people (and fitting a paleo diet).
I’ve actually been playing with mochi lately, too, so it’s funny that you mentioned it.
I had a few ideas for fun recipes for summer, but never got them out in time. Winter came around just a bit too quickly. 😉
As a turksih i have never think to try delight at home..u should try delights with hazelnuts and fruity 🙂
Hi Irem,
I was considering it and think it would probably be easier because they wouldn’t water down the mixture like the rose water or syrup does.
On the other hand, I had to stop making it.
I actually think I have issues with corn, and the combination of corn and sugar was making me sick after making so many batches and trying them all.
I really enjoyed the turkish delight, and love a good challenge, so I kept going with it. In the end, though, I couldn’t eat it all.
I usually do recipes without a lot of sugar and without many grains like corn, but I just can’t help myself sometimes. 😉
I am going to try to make it with tapioca starch and corn-free confectioners sugar…
Hi Melanie,
I’d love to hear how it turns out!
I tried once to do one that was a mixture of gelatin and tapioca starch, but I didn’t like how the first attempt turned out, and was too lazy at the time to keep going. It is definitely something on my “to do” list, though.
If you end up with something shareworthy, I’m sure a lot of people (me included) would be happy to give it a try. I’d love for you to report back!
How much water do you need in total because it says two times that you need to add water? Can you add all the water at once or do you have to add it at the times you listed?
The water is divided because part of it is used for the sugar syrup and the other part is used for the cornstarch mixture. You have to add it with the ingredients mentioned when said to in the recipe, not all at once. (Total, is half cup plus three-fourths of a cup so one and one-fourth of a cup.)