Turkish Salep is a hot creamy drink that warms you up in winter. It is made with milk, sugar and orchid bulb powder. Everyone's all time favorite hot drink in Turkey. A drink you HAVE TO try before you die!
Turkish salep is one of the most fascinating drinks around the world. Its flavor is unique, so no words can exactly describe how yummy it tastes. So rich, creamy and milky that both kids and adults LOVE it like crazy. It is served with cinnamon powder on the top. The best food couple ever! Am I being too assertive? That's because everyone loves it at first sip.
On cold days of winter, it's almost like a habit for most of us in Turkey to have either Turkish Boza Drink or salep when we are out. Although boza is not served hot, it's a winter treat too. On the other hand, salep warms both your body and your heart. I love its aromatic scent spreading inside home while cooking it. Let me introduce this interesting hot drink a bit more before the recipe.
What Is Salep Powder?
I was definitely surprised when I first learnt that salep powder is produced from the bulbs of some species of orchid family. You know that beautiful and fragile flower, right? 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 on their own in different regions of our country. However, this unique powder is produced from some particular species.
Orchid Bulbs
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 works as 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 just the spare ones not to cause the flower to become extinct. When the spare one is picked, the bigger bulb starts to generate a new small bulb. The flower survives this way. Fascinating, isn't it?
After the bulbs are picked, they are washed and boiled in water or milk. Then they are dried in open air. The bulbs are pounded when they are totally dried. As a result, you have the most amazing ingredient in the world: Salep powder or flour. It naturally includes starch, sugar, and mucilage, which has a sticky characteristic. All these together help the milk get thicker while simmering.
Aaaand let me tell you a secret about salep. Have you ever wondered how Turkish strechy ice cream is made? Thanks to salep. Yes, authentic Turkish ice cream contains salep and that's how it has that strechy texture.
How To Make
Do you know How To Make Turkish Coffee? Salep recipe is way easier and you can't go wrong if you have the genuine powder.
We need only 4 ingredients to make it: Milk, salep powder, sugar and cinnamon.
First, put the milk in a small pot and bring it to boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk sugar and salep powder. Add in a few tablespoons hot milk and whisk until smooth.
Reduce the heat when the milk boils and pour the mixture into the pot. Keep stirring while it simmers until it thickens. It might take about 15 minutes, but it is worth. The consistency should be creamy like Homemade Eggnog.
You can serve it in cups or mugs with some ground cinnamon on it and Buttery Melting Moments Cookies on the side. Optionally, you can garnish it with nuts as well.
Where To Buy Salep
You can find it in any spice shop in Turkey. Come visit Turkey to find genuine salep powder! Just kidding. It would be better for sure to buy it from its authentic place, but search for it in Middle Eastern markets if you don't have that chance. Also, it might be found in online websites that sell Turkish food.
It is a bit expensive and that's how you can understand that it’s genuine. If a kilo of it is cheaper than 2000 Turkish Liras (more than $350), it’s not genuine. But don’t worry, you don’t need to buy a kilo. 10-20 grams will be enough for you because you’ll use just 1 tablespoon for 1 liter milk.
There are also packaged salep that you can easily find in supermarkets, you just mix it with hot milk like instant coffee and your hot drink is ready. However, these are not genuine, companies add extra starch into it. So if you want to feel the original taste, you should make a little search.
What Is Salep Good For?
Besides its yummy taste and magical scent, this unique drink 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 is said that it cures constipation and strengthens heart and mental powers.
Talking on this magical drink, I start to crave for it. I’ll definitely run into the kitchen and prepare some after finishing this post.
Other Turkish Drinks
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PrintTurkish Salep Recipe
A creamy hot Turkish drink with an amazing flavor that is wonderfully soothing.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Drink
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon salep powder
- 1 and ½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 liter milk
- Cinnamon for garnish
Instructions
- Put the milk in a pot and bring it to boil.
- Once it boils, bring the heat to medium low and let it simmer.
- In a small bowl, whisk salep powder and sugar. Add in 2- 3 tablespoons hot milk (from the pot) and thin the mixture with it. Gradually add the salep mixture in the simmering milk. Keep stirring until it thickens for about 15 minutes.
- Taste and adjust its sweetness. You can add extra sugar if you like it sweeter.
- Serve in coffee cups or mugs sprinkled with cinnamon powder.
- You can put the leftover in a bottle or jar and keep it in refrigerator for 2-3 days. When you crave for salep again, you can re-heat some.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 179
- Sugar: 16.2 g
- Sodium: 111.1 mg
- Fat: 8.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.8 g
- Protein: 8.2 g
- Cholesterol: 25.8 mg
Keywords: salep, hot drink, Turkish drink
Evelyn Felice says
I bought some Salep online looking for a genuine one. What I chose was called Saf Salep. I followed your instructions but had a disaster! When I added warm milk to the powder and sugar it clumped up and adding it to the hot milk was even worse. The mixture did not slip easily into the milk but fell into clumps and I had to use an electric mixer to try and amalgamate it in the hot milk. I did not notice a pleasant smell while it was cooking and the taste was bland. I had such high hopes for this drink. I am addicted to turkish movies and it is often drunk by the characters. What a disappointment! I am pretty adept in the kitchen so this failure is really bugging me.
Where did I go wrong??
★★★★
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Evelyn,
We are sorry to hear this. Normally, real salep powder is pure without any other additives. Our guess is that salep brand contains a high amount of starch in it. Otherwise, salep powder can be mixed with milk without clumps. You should of course do it gradually and keep mixing until it thickens.
And real salep has a really nice smell, you feel it when you are mixing it with milk in the pot. Not sure why yours doesn't smell.
If you still have some, maybe you can give it a second chance with the following method: Whisk that salep powder and sugar with cold milk first and then cook it over medium low heat, whisking constantly. Also, you can increase the amount of sugar (maybe 3 tablespoons). You can even taste it when cold and adjust the sweetness to your liking.
Hope this helps.
Tony says
Tried it with 2% milk. Never thickened.
Emma says
It was my obsession when I was living in Turkey. Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Larisa Almeida says
could you recommend any good quality Salep powder i could buy online?
Thank you
Tereze says
This used to be my favourite drink as a child back in Egypt. I tried many commercial Saleh mixes here in Australia but they were all just cornstarch which tastes nothing like the real thing. I'm so glad I came across your article now I know what to look for. I'll check a couple of Turkish grocers I know of near where I live in Sydney and hope to find the real powder.
Zerrin says
I didn't know salep is popular in Egypt. Hope you can find the real salep in those Turkish groceries.
Ermin Isakovic says
I grew up in Bosnia drinking this during the long cold winter days. On my recent visit there (Nov. '12) I made the effort to go to this old cake shop in the centre of town and had at least one cup a day. Memories of the happy childhood flooded back. One word of caution, tho: if you are Type 1 Diabetic go easy with this and adjust your insulin doze accordingly.
BTW, Thank you Zerrin!
Zerrin says
Thanks Ermin for sharing your feelings here! My husband is type 1 diabetic and he drinks it with little sugar if his blood sugar level is low enough. Thanks for reminding to adjust insulin doze, I will tell him that.
weewa says
Um. I just bought some sahlep from Iran but it has no flavor. Does it only release the scent when boiled? :/
Zerrin says
Hi Weewa, salep releases its scent as it is boiled. It does smell as a powder, but not that much.
Farnaz says
Thank you so much for this page! I drank salep when I traveled to Prince's Island last month. It was amazing and I fell in love with it. I live in the UAE, I'm not sure if I can find salep powder here. I hope I will be able to find it and prepare this amazingly tasting drink. The best drink I have ever had.
Zerrin says
Farnaz, thanks for commenting! Hope you can find it where you live. There are some intant salep powder brands like Dr Oetker in online markets. Maybe you can try them if you can't find the genuine one. A perfect drink for sure!
Anne says
My daughter has a Turkish friend who brought packets of Salep as a gift at Christmas. It is delicious and soothing and I am now searching for it here in the UK. With the packets you only have to add hot milk which is so easy and just like making a hot chocolate drink. Yummy!
Zerrin says
Perfect Christmas gift! Would be lovely to drink salep when it's snowing outside!
somone from albania says
It's very delicious... you can find in every bar in Albania during the winter. Someone might do it at home, but since drinking a quick coffee or salep at the bar is customary people dont bother... I recommend it! 🙂
Zerrin says
Didn't know it's that famous in Albania. Great to find salep at bars! We have that chance here in Turkey too, but not all of them serve genuine salep.
Jackie says
Does anyone know of an online herb store that carries genuine salep? I first became addicted to salep while in Istanbul awhile ago - I purchased some powder while I was there, but have since ran out - and I would LOVE to make some again! Please let me know - Thanks for your recipe 🙂
Zerrin says
Salep is definitely so addictive, isn't it? I don't know any online markets selling true salep, but you can find commercial version of it at Amazon. I know Dr Oetker's instant powder salep drink is not bad.
Happy new year to you!