Turkish Delight #2

I have run in the snow, worn my new hat and finally satisfied my Turkish Delight craving. It’s a raw-ish recipe, so those 100%ers had better look away now.

Cover in a bowl however many dried organic apricots you want for your batch with rose flower water (if you have edible, organic, fresh rose petals to hand make your own, but I used a bottle sculling around in the depths of my cupboards). Leave overnight. In the morning, most of the rose flower water will have magically disappeared and the apricots will be looking plumper and juicier, and smell enticingly of Turkish Delight!

Using a hand blender (the Vita-Mix doesn’t really work for small-ish batches), whizz the apricots with fresh beetroot juice to produce a deep rich colour. You want to use the least amount of juice possible, just enough to add the desired colour, but not so much that the mixture becomes runny. I tried (on your behalf) using freshly squeezed pomegranate juice but it simply turned the mixture into a very unedifying brown sludge – the beetroot juice is key if you want a good colour. Have a taste – the apricots and beetroot juice are a pretty sweet combination – but if you want to add a little sweetener of your choice, this is the time.

Now, a little more non-raw action. You need the mixture to set. I tried psyllium powder which leaves the mixture quite soft and pudding like, and agar-agar which gave a more authentic wobble. Spoon the mixture into a flat pan or tray, put in the fridge overnight to firm up, and then cut up into chunks. If so desired, you can dust the chunks with lucuma or camu-camu to give them the authentic coated effect, but I like the jewel coloured wedges as they are, so don’t really bother with that.