We showcased a story not too long ago about how a celebrity sweets fan created a new, melt-proof ice cream. As if that was something new and revolutionary. Turns out they’ve been making natural, melt-resistant ice cream in Turkey for generations!
A Master Maraş Maker: In front of his Istanbul shop. His product, a melt-proof
ice cream his people have been making for generations, is a Turkish classic…
Why has this miracle of ancient technology not taken the world by storm? Maraş Dondurma is the unofficial national frozen treat of Turkey. It’s every bit as creamy, sweet and delicious as convent-ional ice cream. But it employs a an ingredient the world has been trying to duplicate for centuries. The secret is in the … starch!
A summertime dream..
Melt-proof ice cream! The realization of a dairy artists wildest dreams… But unattainable under the current official, and traditional, definitions of ice cream as the Western World knows it.
More than just a cone…
Maraş Dondurma is more than just a cone or cup of ice cream. It’s a whole show. The purveyors of this street treat in Istanbul greet customers with a display of their skill.
“Dressed in embroidered [vests] and red fezes, tradit-ional costumes from the south-central Kahramanmar-aş region where Dondurma was born, they’re part mag-ician and part ice cream peddler,” writes food traveller Maureen O’Hare, who saw it firsthand. “Standing over their carts, they use long metal rods to pound and knead the Dondurma like colorful dough, spinning it with the zest of a Naples pizzaiolo.”
“The show begins when customers approach, drawn into a cat-and-mouse game where the rods are used to proffer ice cream, snatch it away, flip it upside down and lead the treat-seeker on a merry dance.”
Secret’s in the starch
The ice cream can take such punishment because it contains an extra ingredient no western count-erpart has.
“Dondurma is traditionally made with just milk, beet sugar and salep,” O’Hare reveals. “ground from the bulb of the Dactylorhiza romana orchid, native to southern Europe and northern Africa, and to the mountains of south-central Turkey where the sweet treat was born. The plant resin mastic is also added to Dondurma to increase its elasticity.”
And it’s that elasticity that makes the antics of the street vendors possible – along with the coveted slightly-chewy texture of the product. And, of course, it’s resistance to melting.
Worth its weight…
Salep is no everyday pantry staple. In fact, it’s almost as rare (and costly) as spices such as Saffron.
“What makes salep so valuable is a molecule it contains called glucomannan,” Serdar Kemahlı, owner and founder of a chain of Istanbul ice cream shops discloses. “One gram of glucomannan can bind two hundred times its own weight in water. It is one of the most extraordinary water-binding mole-cules in nature.”
One kilogram of pure salep powder costs upwards of (US)$200.
An endangered species?
The Romana orchid has lately suffered under increasing demand for the ice cream it makes possible. Kemahlı says millions of the protected plants have been dug up illegally for their bulbs. It takes up to 2,000 bulbs to produce just 1 kilogram of salep.
The root of the problem – literally – is that while saffron is from the flowers of the orchid whence it comes, and renews itself each year, salep is made from the root of it’s plant. Harvesting salep kills the plant. So more Romana orchids have to be planted very year to make sure there are enough for the harvest the following year. Plus what’s needed to perpetuate the species.
Kemahlı says, with the soaring demand for real salep, saving the plant is becoming a losing battle for him and others who make their living from it.
Yes, artificial salep is now available. But Kemahlı considers it a poor substitute for the real thing. Apparently, any real Maraş Dondurma fan can taste the difference.
My take
I wish Kehmali and his fellow crusaders for ‘real salep’ the best of luck. But the future looks dark for Dactylorhiza romana orchid, if fast buck artists keep tearing it up holas-bolas, wherever they can find it.
What I’d really like to see is some enterprising ice cream maker here in Canada – Chapman’s, maybe – get hold of even some artificial salep and try out their own version of Maraş Dondurma on Western consumers. I’d pay a premium for it…
~ Maggie J.