Turkish Delights: Where 250 Years of Sweet Tradition Live On

Step into the original shop where Turkish Delight — or Lokum, as it’s known in Türkiye — was first created over 250 years ago.

The Sultan’s master candy maker who gave the world its most delightful treat.
From royal palaces to family celebrations, discover how Turkish Delight became a timeless symbol of love, joy, and craftsmanship.

Told by Deedra Aynaz Özlen

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We are in one of the oldest and
sweetest shops in all of İstanbul. This is the home of Turkish Delight,
or Lokum as we call it here in Türkiye. This delicious, gummy, flavourful
bundle of joy that all of us love to consume was actually created
in this shop, over 250 years ago. Now I’m here today with Leyla Celalyan. She is a sixth-generation confectioner and she is the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of the original Hacı Bekir, who made the
Turkish delight as famous as it is today. So, Leyla, this is actually
the original shop from 250 years ago I mean, this is where the entire story began. Yes, exactly. We’re at the store where
my great-great-great-grandfather started the business, here at this very shop.
He used to produce Turkish delight and hard candies here, and
sell them in this shop to his customers. Well, he was the head
confectioner for the Sultan. Yes, he was.
A candy maker for the entire palace, let’s say, and at the same time,
he’s kind of accredited with being the father of Turkish delight,
or Lokum, as we call it here. Everybody loved it and still does today. Maybe one of the most important 
and famous parts of our kitchen. How did this happen? Actually, in the oldest Turkish delight recipe, Turkish delight
used to be made with carob molasses, honey and flour. It was my great-grandfather who
observed the innovations in the food industry and learned about corn starch
and refined sugar at that time, and he replaced carob molasses and honey
with refined sugar as a sweetener, and he replaced flour with corn starch
to give it consistency. So, with these two new
ingredients being introduced, Turkish delight gained a new consistency, new
texture, and a new colour, actually. When it was made with carob molasses, it had a darker colour,
but with refined sugar, it’s slightly lighter. I know there’s kind of like a myth or
legend about Turkish delight or Lokum, and it goes, as far as I know, that the Sultan decided, “I need to give them something very sweet to his harem, and beautiful to show them that I care about them.”
And he asked his confectioner, your grandfather, to come up with something, and it
became a symbol of love after this. I think we eat it all the time, but it’s 
extremely popular in celebration, no? Exactly. I mean, every happy occasion in
Türkiye has its own, I mean, they’re associated with sweets or other Turkish desserts.
For every happy occasion, like engagements, childbirths, or holidays, people serve Turkish
sweets, Turkish candies to their guests. So, there are a lot of different candies here.
Now, this is the original Lokum style, cut up small. How many flavours 
are there now of the original? I mean, there’s probably an endless variety of 
flavours that you could actually create. Yeah, that’s true, but we are producing more 
than 30, including the seasonal ones we have. Wow. And what’s the most popular? The most popular is the one with pistachio. My favourite. Covered with the coconut, or not? No, no coconut. Just with powdered sugar.
Rose is also popular, especially among tourists. Because I think when you ask the Turkish people about what 
a Turkish delight is, 90% would say it’s with pistachio, but if you ask a European,
for example, they would say it’s with rose. So, the Lokum we talked about.
But there’s a lot of other stuff. The hard candies are called Akide Şekeri. Exactly. And Akide is kind of a candy that has 
an interesting story as well. Yeah. And what would you like
to tell me about that? Akide comes from the word “akid”. 
Akid means, we can say, “deal”. The Janissaries used to make this 
sweet when they made a deal with the Sultan to show their loyalty 
to him. So it was like, how can I say… A symbol of loyalty. Exactly. A symbol of loyalty. Like, “we have a deal”.
Exactly. Here is the Akide Şekeri. They used to pour them in a coin
shape. Therefore, it used to be like a coin. Like money.
Like coin candy. You should do that again. Sometimes we do, but this way, I mean, it looks better and it’s more 
convenient to produce it that way. I love them. The other one I really wanted to know
about, though, is the Kestane Şekeri. Now, this one. I have to open it up. I have
to open it up because this happens to be my favourite. Chestnut candy. Yes, this is called heaven in a small package. So, this beauty is soaked in, well, it is boiled and
soaked in syrup. Yes.
Actually, it’s very simple. Helva has become a really traditional thing, well, I mean, it’s always been a traditional
thing, but throughout the world now, helva is kind of like a famous, I would say, “in”
dessert, because it’s semi-healthy, let’s say. It’s the rising star of desserts when we 
think about Turkish desserts. Yeah, I mean, in Türkiye, people usually eat it after having
fish, because it’s believed that the tahini inside helva helps you digest and get rid of a 
possible poisoning that can be caused by fish. I love how there are so many beautiful
beliefs, and then they turn out to be true. Sugar-coated almonds are kind of like something
that is given out at, like, weddings and when babies are born, like, every candy kind of has its 
own little tradition. I just love these stories so much. And it being white, like, because it’s a baby being
born, being new and pure? And the same thing with marriage, because 
you just start a new chapter of your life. It symbolises love. It’s pure. So I think that’s 
that’s the reason why they’re usually white. So, another very interesting, I would say, candy-ish thing that we
have is the Lohusa Şerbeti. And these are candy blocks, actually. I just want to show
this to the camera, and this candy block kind of looks like soap, but it’s not. Now, Lohusa 
Şerbeti is something that is traditionally served after the baby is born, and your guests come
to see the newborn baby, but it’s made from candy. Yeah. And it’s kind of like cinnamony. How many 
flavours are in here? It’s delicious. More than ten: cinnamon, cloves and other 
traditional spices. Sometimes people, when they cook it, they add more spices, too. 
I mean, you can do it that way just by adding water, but sometimes people want
to add more spice for more taste. What’s the red colour from? What’s the red, like, the thing that makes it red? It’s beet.
Beet. Yeah.
I had no idea. This is something that I 
really wanted to talk about, because I see that you sell it in your shop. That’s my job. I mean, we’re selling happiness 
here. Nobody’s buying sweets as an obligation. People come here just to be happy, to be
happier, and to make their loved ones happy. The candy that changed the culinary scene for 
all of the world actually is Turkish delight, or Lokum as we call it here in Türkiye. 
Lokum is one of the most important candies because it was the place where Turkish
candy moved into the international arena, when Europeans started to call this wonderful,
bite-sized, gummy candy Turkish delight. Today, you can find Lokum shops all over Türkiye, and when you do, please make sure you try some 
of the new flavours. They have gotten very, very creative, and you can get everything from 
Lokum that is covered in the petals of roses to pistachios, filled with just about 
anything that you could possibly imagine. This is one of the sweetest 
parts of the Turkish kitchen. Only in Türkiye.