Dondurma

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Dondurma
Dondurma topped with walnuts and pumpkin sauce
Alternative namesBooza[1][2]
TypeIce cream
Place of originTurkey
Region or stateKahramanmaraş
Main ingredientsCream, whipped cream, salep, mastic, sugar
Turkish desserts served with ice cream

Dondurma is the Turkish name for ice cream. Outside Turkey, it typically refers specifically to mastic ice cream, which is believed to originate from the city and region of Kahramanmaraş and is known as maraş dondurma in Turkish.[3][a] This is made from cream, salep (the ground-up tuber of an orchid), mastic (plant resin), and sugar.

Description

Two qualities distinguish Turkish ice cream: hard texture and resistance to melting, brought about by inclusion of the thickening agents salep, a flour made from the root of the early purple orchid, and mastic, a resin that imparts chewiness.[4][5] The strand-like texture is sometimes mistakenly attributed to mastic rather than salep.[6]

Regional varieties

Turkey

The Kahramanmaraş region is known for Maraş dondurması, a variety which contains distinctly more salep than usual. Tough and sticky, it is sometimes eaten with a knife and fork.[7]

Greece

Α distinct variation of dondurma is also consumed in Greece, especially in the north of the country, where it is called "dudurmas" or "kaimaki".[8]

The Levant

A dish of booza topped with pistachios served at the Bakdash ice cream shop in Damascus

Booza (Arabic: بُوظَة, romanized: Būẓah, lit. 'ice cream') is a frozen dairy dessert. It is traditionally made through a process of pounding[9] and stretching in a freezer drum, instead of the more usual churning method used in other ice creams, leading to a creamy yet dense texture.[10][11][12] Orange flower water[13] or rose water are sometimes added for flavoring.[14] The firmness of booza allows it to be shaped into a roll, which is a popular traditional serving method.[15][16] It is often served with qishta.[16] It shares an origin with the Turkish dondurma.[17][2][1]

In Al-Hamidiyah Souq in the Old City of Damascus, there is an ice cream store named Bakdash that is known throughout the Arab world for its stretchy and chewy ice cream. It is a popular attraction for tourists as well.[18][14] Booza has been made by Bekdash since at least 1895.[19]

Mastic flavored salep-based booza is made in Jordan.[20] It is also made in Ramallah, in the West Bank by different brands, having spread there from Damascus.[21][22]

Internationally, the first packaged take-home version of booza in Australia was created in 2011.[23] Booza vendors can be found outside the Levant region in areas like the Bay Area and Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the US,[9][24][13] and Sydney, Australia.[25]

History

Food historian Priscilla Mary Işın wrote in Ottoman Culinary Dictionary that it is unknown when salep-based milk dondurma was first made, though she notes that the earliest recipe dates back to 1882.[26] The 1882 recipe appeared in a cookbook titled Ev Kadını credited to Ayse Fahriye.[27] The recipe calls for combining sugar, milk, and salep in pot on heat, mixing it until the milk boils, snow is then added, and the mixture is moved to a different container and beaten vigorously to attain the desired texture before it is served.[27] Mary Işın also notes the diverging traditions of making ice cream: Italian recipes of the time used eggs to thicken ice cream where as the Turkish recipe used salep.[27]

The salep-based ice cream was made in a container made of lead and tin, fitted with a lid containing a turning mechanism, and a larger bucket with a drain tap in which the container was placed, the container had a "crank mechanism" that allowed the ice cream mixture to be stirred continuously without opening the lid.[26]

Culture

Dondurma vendor performing a trick, presenting an entire container's worth of ice cream atop a single cone

Dondurma is commonly sold from both street vendors' carts and store fronts, where the mixture is churned regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable. Vendors often perform magic tricks and practical jokes, with examples including presenting the ice cream cone on a long stick or pole, and then taking away the dondurma by rotating it around, or serving it with an extra cone that comes away from the actual cone when the stick is lifted. These tricks serve the additional purpose of attracting prospective customers, as well as entertaining people waiting in line.[28]

Consumption

As of 2010, the average rate of consumption in Turkey was 2.8 liters of ice cream per person per year (compared to the United States at 14.2 liters per person and world consumption leader Australia at 17.9 liters in 2010).[29][30]

The popularity of salepli dondurma has caused a decline of wild orchids in the region and led to a ban on exports of salep.[31]

See also

Notes

  1. In Turkish: Maraş dondurması, meaning "the ice cream of the city of Kahramanmaraş", also called Dövme dondurma, meaning "battered ice cream"

References

  1. Grow, Rachael (2 February 2024). "Booza: The Stretchy Ice Cream From The Middle East". Mashed. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  2. Rahmanan, Anna Ben Yehuda (13 April 2023). "8 ice cream styles from around the world". Nat Geo Travel. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  3. Maras Dondurma: Traditional Turkish ice-cream unlike any other. TRT via YouTube. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  4. Crowley, Chris (10 August 2017). "Dondurma Is the Chewy, Stretchy Ice Cream You Need to Know About". New York. Archived from the original on 16 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  5. O'Hare, Maureen (18 June 2026). "Dondurma: The stretchy, chewy ice-cream that never drips". CNN. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  6. Darra Goldstein (2015). The Oxford companion to sugar and sweets. New York, NY : Oxford University Press. pp. 434, 746. ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  7. "Dondurma: The Turkish ice cream eaten with a knife and fork". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  8. Zoumpopoulou, Georgia (18 December 2020). "Kaimaki ice cream as a vehicle for Limosilactobacillus fermentum ACA-DC 179 to exert potential probiotic effects: Overview of strain stability and final product quality". International Dairy Journal. 123 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  9. Fabricant, Florence (11 June 2018). "Move Over Soft Serve, There's a New Ice Cream in Town". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  10. This ice cream stretches like gum - CNN Video, 30 August 2018, archived from the original on 5 February 2021, retrieved 7 May 2019
  11. "WHAT IS BOOZA?". REPUBLIC OF BOOZA. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  12. "Traditional Booza Ice Cream Debuts in Brooklyn". Michelin. 27 June 2018. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  13. "A stretchy, hard-to-find ice cream arrives in the Bay Area". San Francisco Chronicle. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  14. Arellano, Gustavo (5 February 2018). "The Syrian Baker Who's Bringing the Middle East's Most Famous Ice Cream to California". The New Yorker. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  15. "Refugee shares a taste of homeland by creating business selling traditional Syrian ice cream 'bakdash'". CityNews Ottawa. 19 August 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  16. Vicars, Natasha (12 July 2023). "Syrian booza in London: A Damascene ice cream made with soul". London Museum. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  17. Rahmanan, Anna Ben Yehuda (22 February 2020). "Meet the Middle Eastern ice cream poised to swarm social media". Fortune. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  18. Amos, Deborah (4 May 2013). "As Syria Melts Down, Ice Cream Shop Sets Up In Jordan". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  19. ""بكداش".. دمشق تودع رائد صناعة "البوظة العربية"". Sky News Arabia (in Arabic). 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  20. "عمّان.. من "حبيبة" إلى بوظة بكداش". The New Arab. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  21. ""ركب"... العائلة الّتي ارتبط صيف فلسطين باسمها" ["ركب"... العائلة الّتي ارتبط صيف فلسطين باسمها]. Arab 48 (in Arabic). 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  22. "Gooey Goodness: Ramallah's Stretchy Ice Cream Delights". NPR. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  23. "Bring on the booza". 24 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  24. "Traditional Booza Ice Cream Debuts in Brooklyn". MICHELIN Guide. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  25. Hrovat, Bianca (7 February 2025). "The stretchy ice-cream from Tripoli that Concord locals are queueing for". Good Food. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  26. Priscilla Mary Işın [in Turkish] (2010). Osmanlı Mutfak Sözlüğü [Ottoman Culinary Dictionary] (in Turkish). KiTAP YAYINEVI. p. 99. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  27. Isin, Mary [in Turkish] (8 January 2013). Sherbet and Spice: The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 233–242. ISBN 978-1-84885-898-5. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  28. "Turkish Ice Cream Tricks". Istanbul.com. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
  29. "Ice cream consumption grows by a third in 2010". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012.
  30. "The World Scene". www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca. 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  31. "Ice cream threatens Turkey's flowers". BBC News. 5 August 2003. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2010.