Rosehip is a herbal miracle that I learnt from dad. He is one of those who hates using medicine and prefers herbal remedy instead. He always says that the nature always serves us what we need. I was so surprised as a child by dad’s knowledge on some herbs when we had a walk around the village where he spent his childhood. When passing along some wild bushes, he would stop, pick a few small fruits, rub them on his clothes to remove the dust and throw one into his mouth and give the rest to me. I didn’t have any single idea what I was eating then as we wouldn’t see such fruits at the markets or bazaars (we still don’t see many of them). They were incredibly fresh and they made me feel like I was in a different world (most probably because I would watch “Alice in Wonderland” then). How was it possible that he knew so much about these interesting fruits or herbs? He said that in his childhood, the children of that village would gather and go exploring on the mountains. As there were no computer games in their time, they would create their own games then. Their games would generally contain the things they could find in forests on mountains. They would invent a game from the twigs of bushes or trees, from dandelions or even from pine cones. And while playing in the forest, dad says that they would never feel hungry as they would snack various wild fruits they came across. In this way, they would learn what fruit was edible by experimenting. Sounds like a real learning in nature, doesn’t it?

Rosehip was one of the wild fruits they would see so often in the forest. And they would fill their pockets with rosehips whenever they saw it as they knew how healthy it was. When they empty their pockets at home, their mom would make either rosehip tea or rosehip marmalade.

Being aware of the benefits of rosehip, dad has turned it into a usual tea for us by making it often. Therefore, the word ‘rosehip’ doesn’t remind us of a disease unlike many people who identify this fruit with the flu. Of course, it’s known as one of the best herbal remedies against the flu and it strengthens immune system, but at the same time it’s a great drink with a sourish flavor. In Winter you can drink it hot, and it makes a perfect cold drink in Summer. Even when dried, it doesn’t lose the vitamins it contains. Experts say that it is a stock of vitamin C, about 40 times more than citrus fruits.

It’s so easy to make the rosehip tea, and you will need a teapot to brew the tea.

Kusburnu Cayi

Ingredients
-    A handful rosehip (about 10 pods)
-    5 or 6 cups of water
-    Honey

Pour the water in the teapot. Throw the rosehips into it. Put its lid on. Heat it over medium heat for about 5 minutes. When it starts to boil, bring it to the lowest heat and keep boiling for about 10 minutes. Then take it from fire. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then, pour it to cups and sweeten it with a little honey.

If you would like to drink it cold, pour all into a jug, mix it with honey or sugar and wait it in refrigerator until cold.

If you want to make it just for 2 servings (just like I did yesterday), decrease the given measurements. I used a coffeepot and pour 2 small cups of water in it and 5 rosehip pods were enough.

As a Winter drink (sorry for the photo, the batteries of my camera was about to end).

As a Summer drink

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

You know we’re living very hot days these days in Turkey. And the best way to feel refreshed is having some cold drinks. Otherwise we should keep taking shower all day. I know no drink can substitute water to remove our thirst, but we need something beyond this in this season. I think refreshment is the right word to describe what we need these days. And a kind of cold drink is the best remedy for this.

Lemonade is always on top of my list when I want some refreshing, but my husband’s favorite was totally different. Do you have any idea what it was? Let me give a clue. It is dark in color. Is it enough to guess? No? Another clue:  Millions of people drink it around the world although experts have millions of warnings about it. Can you guess it now? Right, he was addicted to coke when we first met. I couldn’t believe when he told me that he drank two liters of coke a day. Two big liters! Whenever we went to a Turkish fast food restaurant, I would order ayran(my second favorite) whereas he would order coke and our arguement would start. It was the early time of our relationship and I started to think that it would be hard to get on well with him. Yes, just because of his coke addiction. You may find it nonsense, but it was important for me. I made a researh on the net and found lots of harms of coke. To begin with, it’s an artificial drink, it has lots of chemicals in it. It is an addictive drink because of the amount of caffeine it contains. You may find yourself at the hospital’s emergency room at a night with a heavy stomach ache or you may have to visit the dentist more often when you drink too much coke.  You may also be faced with osteoporosis (bone loss) at older ages. Aren’t these enough to avoid this tempting but killing drink? No matter how much I warned him, he kept drinking it. I thought that the more I talked on this issue, the more attractive it became for him, so I decided not to talk for some time. However, as you can guess, I didn’t give up. Meanwhile I was thinking of a way to make him quit coke. I must also admit that he started to struggle with coke as we were getting closer. I understood that talking or continually warning was not the right way. Then one day, I made this lemonade for him and that day is the starting point of his coke- free life. Luckily, this happened before we married, I mean it didn’t last so long. I wouldn’t make it so often before, but since I saw him drinking it with a great enjoyment, lemonade has got its permanent place in our refrigerator.

Limonata

So here are the things you need for this super refreshing lemonade:

-5 lemons
-3/4 cup sugar
-1 tbsp ginger powder
-5 cups hot water
- A few leaves of fresh mint
- ice cubes to serve

Start with grating the lemons, but be careful, you should grate just the yellow part, when you reach its white, stop grating or your lemonade tastes bitter. Then squeeze the lemons, you must get a cup of lemon juice. If 5 lemon is not enough for it, you can add one or two lemons.

Put lemon juice and grated lemon shell in a big jar. Add sugar and ginger powder in it. Pour 5 cups hot water and stir until the sugar melts. Cover the jar and let it rest. When it reaches the right temperature to get in the refrigerator (not too hot, but warm), wait it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.  Then take it out and transfer it into a carafe with a strainer. Put a few leaves of mint into this carafe and it is ready to serve.

I suggest a large and tall glass for this. Put some ice cubes in the glass, then place mint leaves on them. Pour lemonade and put mint leaves on the top. You may also add two very thin lemon slices as a decoration.

Note: Fresh mint leaves and ginger powder are so important here, they absolutely add more refreshment besides their wonderful taste and benefits for health.

You see how it’s so easy to prepare a totally natural cold drink.

Mr. Lemon The Ice Cream Vendor

Do you think just the humans swelter in summer? Fruits and vegetables need refreshment as well. They usually prefer ice cream to feel some coolness. Mr. Lemon is the most famous ice cream vendor in their town. Although it seems they go there to buy ice cream, they are looking for something different indeed. They know that Mr. Lemon is also selling lemonade underhand. He says that it is such a priceless drink that he doesn’t want to sell it to everyone. One must be a close friend of him to have a small glass of icy lemonade. (drawing by mom)

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Keciboynuzu Cayi

Are you familiar with the unique plant, carob? It is mostly grown in Mediterranian regions. You know I used to live in Tarsus, a city of Mersin, which locates in Mediterranian region of Turkey. I remember the first time I met with carob as a child when I visited my grandparents. There was a big carob tree at the square of the village where my granparents lived. I couldn’t believe that it was a fruit. It was as tough as a stone when I touched. And I wasn’t sure how to eat it. Then I saw  some children from that village picking up carobs and eating it just like crisp biscuits. I took the first bite, it was so crusty, so it wasn’t so easy to eat it. But it was so sweet that I couldn’t help eating more. Children in that village would eat carob as a substitution for chocolate. Sounds more healthy, doesn’t it?

We call it Keciboynuzu in Turkish. This is a compound word; Keci means goat and boynuz means horn. When we combine these words it means the horn of goat. This name is given to this fruit most probably because of its shape and hardness. It is also called Harnup in some regions.

As time passes, I’ve learnt that carob is a priceless fruit with its so many benefits. It is said that it contains more calcium than milk, so the women who hate milk could eat carob or drink its tea for their bone health. I learnt this tea from dad during their last visit. One day, he came with a bag of carobs and immediately entered the kitchen to make its tea. It was unbelievably great! We all drank it, but he said that he made this tea especially fro me and mom. You know women need more calcium than men.

While making this tea, he told that the seeds of carobs were used to measure the weights of things in ancient times. What is so special about its seeds is that their weigh doesn’t change in any conditions. With their constant weight, seeds were the only reliable thing to scale things.

When I made a quick search on it, I learnt that it is not only used in food industry but also in textile and paper industry. It includes a substance, which is so important for many produced  foods. That substance is gum. This carob gum gives the right consistency to foods like yogurt, cheese (especially cream cheese), ice cream, ketchup, sauces, tomato paste, mayonnaise, pastries, etc.  That’s why so many producers may use carob gum for these products. Have you ever thought that all these products indirectly contain carob?

I loved the tea dad made that day, it was so refreshing besides its healthy benefits. So I thought it’s worth sharing with you, if you have the chance of finding carob, you may try it. We drink it cold, but it’s also possible to drink it hot. It doesn’t have a specail recipe. Just wash them well, cut into pieces and wait them in hot water for about an hour or more.

Dad prepared it cold and it was fascinating to see how it changes the color of the water gradually. It also spreads its sweetness into water, so we don’t need to add sugar to make it sweet.

If you want to drink it cold, serve it with some ice in it. Do not forget to put one piece of carob in the glass while serving, it’s so soft now that you can esily eat it.

If you prefer it hot, then boil it for about 15 minutes.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

We’ve been living the last days of Winter in Turkey. Before it leaves us totally, it is a must for me to tell you about one of the most popular hot drink of us: Salep! On cold days of Winter, if I’m outside, the only thing I imagine is to have a cup of salep at home. It warms both your hands(while holding the cup) and your body. I love its aromatic scent spreading inside the home while cooking it. Let me introduce this yummy drink more before its recipe.

I was definitely surprised when I first learnt that salep is produced from the bulbs of some species of orchid family. You know that beautiful and fragile flower, have you ever thought that it has also a lot of benefits besides its majestic beauty? This orchid family includes 24 species and about 90 classes of orchids. Since the lands of Anatolia are so fertile, these species and classes grow themselves in different regions of our country. However, salep is produced from some certain species.

The orchids which are suitable for salep production have a unique structure. The root of those orchids consists of two bulbs side by side. They are in shape of an egg. The bigger bulb feeds the flower while the smaller one is the spare bulb which will take the responsibility of feeding the flower the following year.   Although salep can be produced from both bulbs, producers pick up just the spare one not to cause the flower to become extinct. When the spare one is taken, the bigger bulb starts to generate a new small bulb, in this way the flower goes on living.

After the bulbs are picked, they are washed and boiled in water or milk. Then they are dried in open air. To have salep flour, these bulbs are pounded when they are totally dried. Salep includes starch, sugar, and mucilage, which has a sticky characteristic. This last substance helps the drink get thicker while boiling.

There are also packaged salep that you can find in supermarkets, you just mix it with hot milk and it’s ready. However, these are not real, companies add extra starch into it. So if you want to taste real salep, you should make a little search.

It is generally found in herb and spice shops. It must be a bit expensive, that way you can understand that it’s real. If a kilo of salep is cheaper than 250 Turkish Liras (140 dollars), it’s not real. But don’t worry, you don’t need to buy a kilo. 10gr or 20gr is enough for you because you’ll use just 3 tsp salep for 1 liter milk. You may find the time of making salep a bit long, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Besides its yummy taste and magical scent, it has also several benefits to health. The most well known benefit of it is that it has a curative effect on cough, bronchitis and cold, that’s why it’s mostly consumed in winter. In addition, it cures constipation, strengthens heart and mental powers.

After all these, I start to crave for salep, I’ll definitely go to kitchen and prepare salep after writing this post. Do you wonder how?

Ingredients
•    3tsp salep (if you don’t want a heavy scent, use 1tsp or 1 ½ tsp)
•    1tsp starch
•    1tbsp sugar
•    1 liter milk
•    1 tsp vanilla
•    Cinnamon for garnish

Put the milk in a pot and boil it .
Mix salep, starch and sugar in a bowl. Add some warm milk in and emulsify it. The mixture should be like paste.

After the milk boils, lower the heat and add that salep mixture in the boiling milk little by little and mix it continually. Mixing is very important here, you should keep mixing it otherwise it gets lumpy. You can check its taste and if you like, add more sugar in it. It should be sweet.  Boil this mixture on the lowest heat for half an hour, your house will get full of its wonderful scent. And towards the end of this time, add vanilla. Pour it in a cup and sprinkle some cinnamon on it. You can put the rest in a bottle or jug and keep it in refrigerator for some days. When you crave for salep again, you can heat some of it and feel that pleasure again.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Turkish Coffee has a very special place in our culture. In fact this name comes from the method Turkish people use to brew coffee. There are some essential tips of brewing this coffee. But first, let me give a brief introduction to Turkish coffee.

From grinding to brewing and serving Turkish coffee, it’s like a special ceremony. This special drink is a tool for people to share thoughts and feelings. Mostly Turkish people have this unique coffe after their breakfast. While drinking, they talk on a lot of subjects.

When women finish up with their house chores, they call one of their neighbors and she either invites her neighbor or she herself goes to her neighbor to have a demitasse of Turkish coffee together. Almost noone prefers drinking it alone as it’s a way of sharing.

A demitasse of coffee can take your tiredness, so after work when you drink it, you forget about your stres or tiredness maybe because of the coffee itself, maybe because of the friendly talk.

Not every coffee has the same flavor, so you should choose the best one.

You can reach the best taste when you get some just ground coffee.

Another important thing about Turkish coffee is that there should be floams on the top, which shows that you are good at brewing coffee. To have the highest amount of coffee floams, freshness of the coffee is highly important. That’s why you should find the coffee that’s just ground.

If you want to serve Turkish coffee to your guests, first you should ask how they prefer; well sugared, with a middling amount of sugar, little sugared, or without sugar. Not everyone has the same taste, so you should brew the coffee according to your guests’ wishes.

As for its serving, there should always be something accompanying it. A glass of water is a must to serve with it. Also, you may enrich the service with some Turkish delights, bitter chocolate or chocolate waffle sticks.  Unlike in other cultures, in general we do not prefer adding milk or cream in it in Turkey. However, sometimes a little cream or milk is added in it for children.

It’s not very simple to brew Turkish coffee, as it’s important to have enough floams on it. So here are the tips:

•    Use cold water (if you have the chance, use spring water)

•    Coffee shouldn’t be stale

•    Brew it on low heat

•    Stir continually until it boils

•    Do not boil it over

The tools you need:

Coffee pot (I prefer the one made of copper)

Dessert spoon

Ingredients (2 servings):

2 demitasses water

2 dessert spoons brimful coffee

1 dessert spoon of sugar for little sugared coffee, 1 ½ dessert spoon of sugar for a middling amount and 2 dessert spoons of sugar for well sugared or do not add any sugar(depends on your taste).

First put water in the coffee pot and then add coffee and sugar together. Put the pot on the lowest fire and stir the coffee continually to have a lot of floams until it boils. While doing it, be careful not to overflow it on your oven. When it boils and rises, take it from fire. First, put the coffee floams in the demitasses evenly with a dessert spoon. Then pour the rest of the coffee into demitasses. Do not forget to put a glass of water near it while serving. If you like, you can also serve some chocolate or Turkish delight on a small plate to complete your service.

Enjoy! (but not alone)

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite