I’ve always fancied making Turkish delight, but have never really been brave enough to give it a go through fear of a colossal mess and catastrophic failure. However there comes a time when you’ve got to be brave and give it a shot. I’d decided to make this for Pops for Fathers Day, and after an initial trial batch that was certainly more jelly-like than expected I managed to produce something that was not dissimilar to traditional Turkish Delight.
I used this recipe from Good to Know, and even though it only has three stars, I found it really useful (if you follow it exactly to the letter!). The only thing I did differently was distil my own rose water. I used petals from my Arthur Bell which was a moving in present from Pops. I put a tiny bit of Vodquila (because I didn’t have vodka!) in with this to preserve it in case I really made a mess of everything and needed more. When it came to soaking the gelatine leaves in water, I used the rose water then added a small amount of it later on for extra flavour.
The finished product was never photographed…mostly because it didn’t last long! The flavour was subtle, but really did taste like roses – our roses! One thing I will say, is that if you’ve used chemicals on your flowers don’t use them to make rose water!