Sweet Street Desserts: Turkish Street Desserts

Many visitors to Turkey talk about Turkey's unique and delicious street food, but maybe you'll find this fact: You can also find a treasure trove of sweet, must-try desserts on the streets of Turkey.

After studying in Istanbul, I had the pleasure of trying many Turkish street foods. It provided me with a priceless experience of cheap, quick and delicious istanbul en iyi restoranlar's food. We've written extensively about street food here before, but the desserts don't feature as much. We enjoy a wide variety of food here, and things like marshmallows are popular street food here, but I wanted to focus on things you won't find elsewhere. So here's a small selection of popular Turkish desserts.

Tulumba, Lokma and Halka

Why put these three together? Because, they are essentially the same, except for their shape. Do you know Spanish fritters? Tulumba is like a short doughnut that is rolled all around, Halka means "circle" in Turkish and as the name suggests, it is the shape of a circle. is usually sold in a small cup, while halka is placed directly in your hand, usually with a piece of paper to keep your hands from getting sticky.

Lokma is close to these, but they are small balls with a long tradition, also made fresh and distributed as hospitality after funerals and other occasions. They have become popular in the past few years as stores offering these syrupy desserts with chocolate and various toppings have sprung up.

Macun

From colorful trays, street vendors cleverly wrap different flavors of "macun" to create your own personal flavor of lollipop. This macun actually originated in Ottoman times and has a medicinal purpose, called "mesir macunu". These sellers can be found in many festive venues, especially during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. If you would like to try more of their medicinal versions, I will share a recipe.

Marsambaç

I was delighted to come across a dessert in the heat of the Mediterranean. The ancestor of the snow cone, karsambaç is made from ice or snow from the Mersin mountain range and its surrounding areas. The ice is scraped off with a knife and then poured over with sweet syrup. Depending on the seller, the syrup can come in different flavors, but the watermelon syrup I've had is really good! If you go to neighboring Adana, you can also find it, although it's called "Bici bici". Sometimes they are collectively called "kar helvası", which literally means "snow halva candy".

Mashra Ice Cream

Named after the city of Kahramanmaraş, this ice cream is unique. Not only does the street vendor cleverly tease you with his technique, which has been seen hundreds of times on social media, but it is also distinctive in its taste and texture. It's very dense, it doesn't melt as fast as traditional ice cream, and it's chewy and quite bouncy. This texture is due to gum Arabic and salep, which also give the ice cream a unique flavor that is best experienced if you ask for a "sade" - otherwise unflavored - version of the ice cream.

Kağit Halva Shortcake

"Halva ganache, but as a wafer." This dessert is a unique dish that contains a layer of sweet halva ganache between thin layers of wafer. If you get stuck in traffic, you may find vendors selling this so you can ease the stress with a quick meal. But you can use the last part to enhance this light dessert: ice cream! Place a thick slice of malash ice cream between two slices of halva shortening and you can make a quick ice cream sandwich. Many adana restaurants will make one to suit your taste.