Blog 14: SAHLEP The Winter drink in Adana

Blog 14: SAHLEP

A popular winter drink in Adana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salep

When you’re talking Turkish drinks you think of Raki ( a very potent famous Turkish Alcoholic drink), Salgam (a bitter but quite savory street drink made of black carrot and a red turnips), Turkish coffee (served in tiny cups – with about half the cup filled with a strong coffee power – often used for fortune reading when the power is left in the bottom after drinking), Ayran, (a savory yogert drink that the Turks prefer to drink at their meal table over Coke), and then there’s Salep.

Sahlep (or Salep).

For this blog I will cover Salep, a milky thick, very hot and nutritious drink made from ground orchid tubers. A very popular winter drink, Sahlep is historically tied for centuries with the old Ottoman Empire.  

I will spell Sahlep as Salep because my wife insists this is the correct way. The van's all spell Salep with a "h" but you can find it online either way.

I discovered this drink at a cafe in the Grand Bazzar in Istanbul in 2007 and have loved it ever since.

In Adana this drink flourishes in epic proportions. Salep vans can be found in their hundreds all around the lake foreshores of Adana. All with their slightly different recipes, each claiming to be the best. (Salep in the Winter, Bici Bici in the summer.)

Above - The van we choose to drink from this time around. Below - an example of the many van's that are every 50 meters or so aroun the lake.

I must admit, the best Salep I have tasted was from one of these street vans. You also find Salep in many Café’s during the winter months here.

I could go on adding van pictures here but I think you got the idea - Heaps  of Sahlep vans!!

Salep is a “Must Try” in Turkey and in Adana you will find some of the best examples. My wife makes it now of a night and tonight is rainy and cold so the Salep was perfect!!

Salep is served from a very unique brass machine that is an attraction in itself. I love the look of these machines, so exotic, it take the eye!

And when it’s a cold day these Salep Machines can give off a steam that adds very much to the ambience and attraction.

 Sahlep is best served boiling hot, not like the wimpy luke-warm coffee you can expect from many Café’s back home who forever fear a law suits since McDonalds was sued successfully. Coffee is best hot and so is Sahlep! If you want a cold drink, go buy a milk shake!

Sahlap’s unique flavour comes from ground orchid bulbs and because it takes a lot of bulbs to make the power, the real stuff is expensive as hell! (excuse the language) Served with a sprinkling of cinnamon and often crushed walnuts, it’s a marvellous combination for a great Turkish drink.

It’s also considered a powerful aphrodisiac but I can’t confirm the science of that claim. Either way I’m encouraging my wife to make and consume it in large quantities! ;-) I’m not sure if it’s working!! :-/

Salep, my favourite hot drink.

Cheers

 Andrew