Winter 'officially' comes in our town. After raining since last night follow by soft snow fall down turns Bursa into uniform color-white... hhhh.... finally fresh air and softness cool. And nothing can comfort us in this such weather better than hot yet nutritious beverage.
Salep or Sahlep or sahlab is a powder made from the tubers of the orchid genus orchis (including species Orchis mascula and Orchis militaris). These tubers contain a nutritious, starchy (about 10%~30% starch) polysaccharide called glucomannan (about 30%~55%).
Salep flour is consumed in beverages and desserts, especially in places that were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire.
The root of the plant is collected in Sahlep season (May and June). Collected tubers are cleaned by washing with water, boiled in water or milk, and hang on a rope, then air-dried. The tubers are pounded to dried powder. The obtained powder gives sahlep powder ready to used product. Widely used as raw ingredients like dondurma (ice cream) also as beverages. It'll swell when used with ice water and milk.
1 kilogram of pure sahlep powder produces from around 2 thousand 600 orchis tubers. So no wonder the price of pure sahlep powder is very expensive about 300~400 TL per kilo.
loading...