Pink delight: how to make the national Turkish dessert lokum at home

Lokum contains a lot of sugar and can be stored at home for up to 20 days.

This dessert, besides Turkey, can be found in Greece, Syria, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and even the United States. Thethingswellmake.com has shared a recipe for delight that can be easily repeated at home without using expensive or inaccessible ingredients.

You will need:

• 2 cups of sugar
• citric acid - on the tip of a knife
• water - 100 ml and 150 ml
• 50 g of corn starch
• flavoring: rose water, syrup or oil
• red dye - optional
• cornstarch for dusting

Preparation:

1. Prepare the molds for the lokum in advance (silicone molds are suitable or just cover others with parchment paper).

2. Mix sugar, 150 ml of water and citric acid, pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat.

3. While the syrup is boiling, mix water (100 ml) and starch and pour it into the heated sugar mixture, removing it from the stove first.

4. When the sugar is mixed with the starch, pour in the rose water/syrup/oil and stir. The mass in the pan should thicken.

5. You can determine the thickness of the mixture as follows: dip a spoon into it and then dip it into a glass of water. If the mass is successful, it will instantly harden.

6. Add the dye to the thickened mass and mix for a uniform color (the finished lokum will still be translucent at the end).

7. When the mixture is of the desired consistency, taste and smell, pour it into molds and leave to cool for several hours.

8. Start cutting the lokum into cubes, sprinkling it with starch so that they do not stick to each other.

9. Serve.