Maras Ice Cream

Since ancient times the people of Anatolia kept the winter snow frommelting by storing it in mountain crevices which they covered withtwigs. Come summer, they brought it up from its storage place, put itin bowls used for stewed fruit and, drizzling it with molasses, ate it.This sweet, which was called karsambac, is regarded as the ancestorof todays ice cream. With the entry of sugar into everyday life, fruitjuices and syrups were also made and stored for consumption in winter.And they too were poured over ice cream and eaten with gusto. Freshsnow with molasses is still consumed in some parts of Anatolia today.Many fruit flavored ice creams do not in fact contain cream or milk butare fruit sherbets. Then there are ice creams made from yogurt. But thefirst thing that comes to mind at the mention of ice cream in Turkey isthe beaten ice cream of Kahramanmaras. Not easily melted and with aconsistency like taffy, it is like nothing else in the world, unique toTurkey alone... Maras ice cream, which is hung on a butchers hook andcut with a knife, is believed to have been made since the 18th century.And its most outstanding ingredient, which enhances its flavor anddistinguishes it from all other ice creams, is the salep obtainedfrom the knobby root of the wild orchid and ground in a mill. The icecream made in Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep doesnt cause the usualburning sensation on the palate; indeed their soothing effect on thetongue and palate is yet another characteristic of the ice creams ofthis region. You can have it in cups, cones or waffle sandwiches.Traditionally, one could only find ice cream at shops that specializedin uniquely winter treats like pickles or the fermented hot drinkboza, and whose trade in ice cream was therefore limited to summer.Times have changed now ice cream sweetens the palates of everyone fromseven to seventy all year round.

Very nice turkish ice cream