Redpoppy Syrup-sherbet
From kutadkubilik 14 years ago
- 2 minutes to make
- Serves 12
One of the more unusual ones - and one which require a bit more work - is poppy syrup. Each May, fields in Turkey are cloaked in the dazzling red of millions of poppies. The species is the same as the common "corn poppy" of western Europe but there are distinct races; the farther south you go, the deeper red the petals are. Read more sherbet actually comes from the Arabic word sharaba, "to drink," and in this part of the world is a term for sweet cold drinks flavored with fruits or other ingredients. Pronounced "shehr-bett," not "sure-butt," and a very old tradition in this part of the world, they are either made fresh or from concentrated syrups are diluted with water. During the height of the Ottoman Empire, the water system was funded largely by charitable pious foundations as well as wealthy citizens. Some public fountains - the çesmes that are still to be seen all over cities of the former Ottoman Empire - were connected directly to a water source. Others, called sebils, had a reservoir of limited capacity and were filled from another source. At various times, especially during Ramadan and other special days, these were sometimes filled with sherbet which was free to the public. As the Turks succumb with the rest of the world to the habit of eating out of boxes and packages, the sherbets have largely been forgottn, replaced by artificially-flavored drink powders (sugar, citric acid, not-found-in-nature colors and some sort of flavoring). See less
Ingredients
- • Poppy petals (red) 4 cups shopping list
- • citric acid (powdered) 2 teaspoons shopping list
- • water 4 cups shopping list
- • sugar 1 1/2 cups shopping list
- • lemon juice shopping list
How to make it
- . To make the syrup (which with the addition of pectin becomes a delicious jelly as well), you first need a lot of poppies. Collect them in the morning when they just open, just grab the petals, leaving the developing seed pod and stamens behind.Now the bad news - if there is a big black blotch at the base of the petals, you have to remove it. You can either do it with scissors after you've collected them or (the method I find easier), tear it off as you collect the petals, four at a time. If you're lucky you'll find a stand with no blotch or a very rudimentary one; you can leave that. But too much black and you'll have ugly syrup, and bitter too because the black part contains a nasty-tasting chemical. Rinse and drain the petals and cut off any black parts at the base of the poppy petals. Place these in a jar along with the 1.2l water and the citric acid. Cover and allow to stand for about 1 week (if its summer just 3 days under the sun). When ready store the extract in the refrigerator. This will be basic extract. Keep it in refigerator
- For syrup (cold drink) : Dissolve sugar in water stirring occasionally. Add desired amount of extract to taste. Stir in crushed ice. Serve in glasses with crushed ice and lemon juice..
- concentrated drink and you can serve 7-9 glasses of syrup (according to your taste) from a bottle of 25 cl.
- + Traditionally we serve it with water and ice, or mineral water and ice.
- + With very small quantities of the syrup you can create unique alcoholic coctails by adding vodka,gin,...
- + You can also use the red poppy syrup by flavoring and coloring the desserts.
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The Rating
Reviewed by 3 people-
WOW... I loved all the information on both the recipe and in your history... it was so interesting.... thank you and five forks and flagged
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in mid-hudson valley loved it
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