Ingredients
Syrup
- 800 gsugar
- 500 mlwater
- 1 tsplemon juice
Starch mixture
- 150 gcornflour
- 1 tspcream of tartar
- 600 mlwater
To flavour
- 2 tbsprose water
- a few drops of red or pink colouring
- 100 gblanched almonds or pistachios, optional
To coat
- 100 gicing sugar
- 50 gcornflour
Directions
- Boil the sugar, water and lemon juice to exactly 118°C (245°F), the soft-ball stage, and take it off the heat. Use a thermometer. In a second large pan, whisk the cornflour and cream of tartar into the cold water until completely smooth.
- Cook it, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a thick, glue-like white paste. Now pour the hot syrup into the starch paste in a thin stream, whisking hard the whole time.
- Pour it slowly and keep whisking. Tipped in at once it seizes into lumps that will never smooth out.
- Simmer the mixture on the lowest possible heat for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. An hour and a half is not an exaggeration.
- Stir in the rose water, colouring and nuts in the last few minutes. Add the flower water at the end, because the aroma boils away over a long cook.
- Pour it into a tin lined with oiled paper, to about 2.5 cm deep, and level the surface. Leave it uncovered at room temperature for 24 hours to set. Do not refrigerate it. Mix the icing sugar and cornflour together.
- Cut the set loukoumi into cubes with an oiled knife and toss them thoroughly in the sugar and starch mixture. The cornflour in the coating is what stops the pieces sticking back together; icing sugar alone dissolves into syrup within a day.
Technique
- Cream of tartar stops the sugar crystallising and should not be left out.
- It is the same confection as Turkish delight, and the naming is a matter of some feeling in Cyprus.
- It keeps for months in a sealed tin.
Substitutions
- Mastic or citrus in place of rose water.
- Potato starch in place of some of the cornflour.
Variations
- With pistachios or almonds set through it.
- Flavoured with bergamot, mastic or lemon.
- Rolled in desiccated coconut instead of the sugar coating.
History
Cypriot Turkish delight, made especially at Geroskipou, where it has been produced since 1895 and holds EU protection.
Frequently asked questions
What is Loukoumi?
Loukoumi is a dessert from Cyprus: rosewater Cyprus delight from Geroskipou. Cypriot Turkish delight, made especially at Geroskipou, where it has been produced since 1895 and holds EU protection.
How long does Loukoumi take to make?
Loukoumi takes 30 min plus 24 hr setting of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 60 pieces. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Loukoumi?
Yes, within limits. Mastic or citrus in place of rose water. Potato starch in place of some of the cornflour.
What is the most important thing to get right in Loukoumi?
Cook it, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a thick, glue-like white paste. Now pour the hot syrup into the starch paste in a thin stream, whisking hard the whole time.
