Turkish Delights (Lokum) Story

Istanbul the capital of Turkey is located between two continents connecting Europe with Asia. The location helped the city to grow. The merchants from Europe, who wanted to travel to Asia, had to go through Istanbul.

They took the goods from their countries to exchange for different things not known to their lands. They brought back variety of spices to improve the taste of food, silk material to make very light clothes, and of course some sweets.

A long time ago, in Istanbul there was a ruler called Sultan. He was known for a very sweet tooth and for having already the best collection of sweets. Rumor had it that he was looking for a new delicacy to add to his collection.

Shortly before this rumor started a new baker, who was from a small town up in the mountains moved to Istanbul. Coming from a small town to a big city was a new experience. He didn’t feel welcome and on that note he thought to himself, “How can I welcome the people instead?”

He pondered, “What better way to welcome somebody than a sweet confection.” So he thought of inventing a new treat.

The mixture of gel and sugar turned out pretty soft and yummy. But all in one color, “Rather boring.”

The weekend came and the baker visited the market purchasing some flavors including orange, peach, lemon and kiwi.

He carefully added each flavor in a separate bowl to the gel, resulting in a rainbow of colors. Now he had a soft and colorful confection. The texture was very smooth, but almost slippery. “Oh, I can’t have Sultan running after a slippery candy,” the baker exclaimed.  

He dusted them with sugar and cut it into small cubes. He tasted them and his mouth felt so full of sweet and soft delicacy that instantly he named it “Lokum,” meaning mouthful.

Whoever tasted it had a big smile on their face.

The baker no longer felt unwelcomed.

People flocked to his confection store and the word spread out about the new delight.

Meanwhile, a merchant coming from England was on his way to India and stopped by the Sultan’s palace. Trying to satisfy the ruler’s sweet craving, he brought something special for him.

“Mmmm, so soft and squishy,” said the ruler further asking, “What is it?”

“It’s called spongy cake,” the merchant snorted a bit and added, “The Queen’s favorite.”

“But I like something sweeter, more of a confection than a cake,” complained the ruler just a little.

So going back to the rumor, the people encourage the local baker to send the lokum to the Sultan.

He packed it into a small white box and sent it with the best regards.

The opened box was handed to the ruler.

He popped one cube of delicacy into his mouth, “This is marvelous.”

He popped another one, “This is so soft and sweet.”

He sighed and beamed, “I can’t stop eating it.”

He popped one more. “Somebody, stop me!” he exclaimed.

The Sultan loved the lokum and it became his favorite delicacy.

But the story doesn’t end here.

Later, when the lokum was already a well-known delicacy throughout Turkey, a merchant from England, who was travelling through Istanbul came across it. He loved it so much that he shipped lots of it to England and named it Turkish Delights. It also became very popular in England, and spread its popularity to other European countries.