Representatives of Turkish Confectionery Culture: Lokum and Akide

Culture is a collection of values that sets one society apart from others. The sustainability of these values is achieved through a balanced harmony between the past and the present. The best examples of generational transmission are found in societies where traditions are passionately carried into the future. The passing down of flavors from generation to generation is also part of this passion.

In Turkish culinary culture, sweets hold a special place. They are served alongside coffee or tea during visits and, especially on special days, celebrations, and holidays. During births, ornate chocolates are prepared, and on holidays, children's pockets are filled with akide sweets. A small piece of lokum always accompanies the rich taste of Turkish coffee during conversations.

Although sweets that were once rare, expensive, and highly valuable are now easily accessible, they remain highly cherished. Handmade akide sweets and lokum, particularly those prepared in copper cauldrons with natural ingredients and poured onto marble countertops, are still of great value. The honey, water, and sugar boiling in a copper cauldron reach such a consistency and flavor that akide becomes akide and lokum becomes lokum, according to the experts. Skill is cultivated with patience. Such skill, patience, and dedication honor years of effort. Handcrafting is an art, and akide sweets and lokum made with painstaking effort are works of art.

From past to present, from traditional to modern... As years go by, palates change, and flavors evolve. From nutty to chocolate-covered pistachio, from mastic to rose-flavored pomegranate, a variety of lokum; from mint to violet, from cinnamon to strawberry, a variety of akide... Young generations witness the transmission of legendary flavors inherited from their ancestors.

Both akide and lokum are among the most important representatives of Turkish sweet culture.

Akide, which represented trust between the sultan and the Janissaries during the Ottoman period and was an essential part of various social and religious celebrations outside the palace, carries the secrets of the past into the present. As Proust said, “The past is hidden in a concrete object, beyond the grasp of the mind and understanding, in a way we never imagined.” Who knows what secrets might be hidden in a small piece of akide!

The preparation of akide, made with just a few ingredients, is not as easy as it might seem. Making akide is an art where skill is cultivated with patience, honoring years of effort. In the hands of a master, it is slowly boiled in copper cauldrons and then gently poured onto marble countertops.

Turkish Delight, or Rahat-ul Hulukum, is a confection that has journeyed from Anatolian lands to the Ottoman Empire and, with all its splendor, to the present day. Like akide, lokum is slowly boiled in copper cauldrons and carefully poured onto marble countertops. The touch of skilled hands brings to life years of experience, transporting us to bygone eras with its delicate flavor and elegant presentation.

There are many stories about Turkish delight, which began to be known in Europe as “Turkish Delight” through an English traveler in the 18th century. Artun Ünsal, a writer, underscores the uniqueness of Turkish delight with a quote from the book Art et Métiers en Orient (Arts and Crafts in the East), published in Paris in 1907 by the French painter Pretextat Lecomte, who lived in Istanbul for a long time: “Lokum is a confection invented in Istanbul; the lokum found elsewhere is merely a pale imitation.”

By the 18th century, the fame of Turkish delight had begun to spread globally, and Europeans were eager to discover it. Artun Ünsal recounts how Friedrich Unger, the German “Confectioner-in-Chief” to the Greek King, visited Istanbul in 1835 specifically to explore the city’s palace and marketplace confectioners, halva makers, and sweet products. Following this visit, Unger wrote the book Conditorei des Orients (Sweets and Confections of the Orient). Ünsal adds, “Today, there are many varieties of lokum from Tunisia to Egypt, Greece to Syria, Macedonia to Cyprus, but none can match the aroma, texture, and flavor of traditional Turkish delight.”