Homemade Turkish Delight

Is homemade Turkish Delight better than the stuff my nan liked? Only one way to find out! Recently you saw how much I dislike Turkish Delight but you all told me to try making my own, so I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone today to do just that, the question is, did I actually like it??

Homemade Turkish Delight Ingredients

800g (2 cups) sugar
1000ml (4.25 cups) water
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 lemon
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp orange extract
2 tbsp rosewater
35g (¼ cup) pistachio kernels, chopped
Red food colouring

Homemade Turkish Delight Recipe

Pour 426ml water (1.5 cups) and all the sugar into one saucepan, then bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar into the water over a high heat. This needs to boil until the sugar syrup reaches 115C (240F).

While this boils, line a baking dish with foil and spray with cooking oil. I would probably prefer baking parchment, but I’m following the recipe this time! This should* help get it out at the end!

Meanwhile, weigh out the cornflour, add the rest of the water (that’s 575ml or 2.75 cups), the cream of tartar and the juice of 1 lemon. Whisk this together to agitate it so there are no lumps over the heat. Keep whisking until it looks like a thick white paste AKA that transparent ketchup with NO lumps at all!

When the sugar syrup reaches temperature, slowly pour it into the thick white paste to bring it back to life over a medium heat. Be very careful as this could easily scold you! Whisk it from time to time as it bubbles gently over the medium heat for at least 45 minutes (I went nearly double the time!) until it turns into a golden orange jelly.

It’s time now to add the flavours, you can go any way you like with this, it doesn’t have to be rosewater! The food dye is optional, I added a splash of red though. Then in with the orange extract, our good friend the rosewater, a little shimmy of salt, and give these a stir through.

Layer half of the mixture into the bottom of your baking dish, sprinkle with a layer of chopped pistachios, then finish with a final layer of the Turkish Delight mixture. You could stir them through or dollop on top or omit them entirely, it’s your choice!

Let this stand until it reaches room temperature, then put into the fridge to set for around 2 hours.

Once it’s set, tip out of the baking dish onto a board and peel off the foil. To cut it up, I dipped my knife into some icing sugar which is what we’re going to decorate it with anyway. In a bowl, measure out your icing sugar, then one by one, dip the cube of Turkish Delight and coat it entirely in sugar. Now this might taste awful to me, but I’m very proud of myself - it looks awesome!

*SHOULD - The asterisk as promised!

00:00 Turkish Delight Intro & Facts
01:08 Sugar Syrup
02:55 Thick White Paste - yum!
05:36 Make a golden orange jelly?!
06:50 Turkish Delight flavours
09:20 Leave to set
09:51 Finishing touches
10:55 Turkish Delight Taste Test

#turkishdelight #barrylewis #barrytries

[mrbarrylewis]

What do you think my fellow Turkish Delight haters, will you try homemade Turkish Delight and become a convert like me??

[ezgi]

As a Turkish person it's always impressive seeing people making lokum at home. I don't think I've never heard someone making it at home, don't even know the recipe but yours looking great now I want some.

You can eat it as is or you can squish and spread the Turkish delight a little bit between two petit beurre biscuits and eat it like a little sandwich, crisp biscuits and soft sweet lokum is delicious together.

[steelhorseman]

Barry, you might not believe this. My name is Michael Lewis. I just want to thank you for your time showing the things that could help the people who have disabilities. I have Cerebral Palsy.

[monikasturm]

My son saw these as a kid while watching Narnia and begged for me to get him some. After a month I find some here in Texas and he was soo excited. He ripped the box open and shoved one in his mouth and then commenced to spitting it out and sticking his hand in his mouth trying to remove all the wee bits still in his mouth. He was so disappointed, the poor baby. 😂

[bankstonw]

Hey Barry, I just wanted to say I'm proud of you at what you've accomplished. I know this is something you wanted for a long time and now you have your own studio. This is amazing

[vickytaylor]

My Mum went to Turkey a few years ago and brought me back some Turkish delight. She bought back spearmint flavour and cool mint plus some lemon and lime flavour and rose. The mint ones tasted like toothpaste.

[RobbertNyhan]

Just so you know, you're supposed to make a 1-3 ratio of the powder that goes on them after they cool! It's supposed to be 1 part corn starch to 2 parts powdered sugar. But I guess using just powdered sugar makes it extra sweet

[imjustsaying]

As a kid reading CS Lewis book’s, I thought turkish delight was turkey in a sticky sauce. It was later I discovered the sugar inducing coma candy that it is 😵
Great to see you in the new kitchen! Looks great and I’m sure it will be more comfortable when you remember where you put all your cooking tools lol.

[vanvleesenbloed]

Hey Barry, I am from Turkey and a fun fact : In Turkish we call these as "Lokum" . I love the fact that your first video on the new studio is dedicated to Lokum🎉

I just realized I have never seen how they were actually made so this was so much fun to watch😊

There are so many other tastes available so you should definetely taste those too! Cheers

[mathboy]

Love Turkish Delight, sweet as baklava. You should try making that Barry!

[drtns]

I am the only one in my household that likes the rose water version, when I make it I will stick to the lemon or other more friendly flavours. glad you tried it out, I agree with everyone else home-made is so much better then the shop, unless you can find one of those boutique shops that also make it from scratch.

[PartyOnMyBlock]

There are so many flavours of turkish delight you would not believe! Brought a ton back when I went to Turkey. Yours looked great!

[beththebookworm]

Good job Barry. Mint lokum is delicious, as is pomegranate - pomegranate and pistachio is a very popular combination. You don't need to take the mix to a very oragne colour; plain lokum is actually still quite pale.

[danielsantiagourtado]

Discovered this through narnia and have loved it since! How did you discovered barry?

[lmetcalf-gcic]

Proper Turkish delight is ridiculously addictive Tbh 😂 I always get a few boxes if I Go on holiday to Turkey if you do end up going to try the authentic stuff I really recommend marmaris beautiful place and everyone is so friendly and welcoming 😊

[hatingontruth]

I still really enjoy your warm and homely format of your videos. I agree a dedicated frige in your garden kitchen will be a great touch. I'll miss seeing all the Lewis family's leftovers when you us the main fridge. Great video.

[juh-roon]

Over here, the Turkish bakeries make the sweetest Turkish Delights. So good.

[Rishi]

I absolutely love Turkish Delight, both the original Lokum version (of which I've only eaten the rose version) and the chocolate version from Fry's.

[claregrice]

Loving the new kitten and the eye chart in the corner is stonkin ❤

[marjonantoons]

I was genuinely grinning when I saw you pick your things up and went for the garden kitchen. It is lovely, congratulations. I wish you lots of fun, great food and happy days there! (Oh, and lots of videos!)