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Karsambaç
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A taste to make you melt: Ice Cream
By VEDAT BASARAN
Whether it originated in the Far East or the Middle East remains a
mystery, but one thing is sure: ice cream is an all-time favorite with
people from seven to seventy.
It used to be one of the main harbingers of summer. When the ice
cream vendor passed our door and we children were fluttering around
him like moths around a flame, we knew that summer had finally come.
Don't bite it, eat it slowly or you'll get sick, our mothers would yell
from the windows. And don't forget to drink some water when you're
finished. Nowadays everyone from kids to old-timers consumes it summer
and winter: ice cream.
THE FAR EAST, OR THE MIDDLE EAST?
The history of ice cream, to which almost all of us have been addicted
since childhood and which is now a year-round treat, is shrouded in
the distant past... We say shrouded because there are so many versions
of the story. According to historians,
ice cream first appeared as a sweet made by flavoring the snow and ice
stored in cellars with fruit or molasses. In some sources the first
such ice cellars are encountered near the banks of the Euphrates in
Mesopotamia where the inhabitants consumed fresh snow brought down
from the mountains after mixing it with fruit and honey. This was
perhaps the forerunner of the delicate sorbets served between courses
in French cuisine today. In terms of technique anyway the making of
sorbet is similar to that of ice cream. In western sources, the
development of sorbet is said to have been inspired by the fresh fruit
syrups of the Turks. The use of sugar in any case is known to have
originated in the Middle East, from which we might deduce that all the
natural conditions for ice cream actually came together in this
region. For some reason however the sources fail to provide sufficient
evidence of this.
In certain western sources the story of ice cream in Europe dates back
to the renowned traveller Marco Polo. These sources claim that the
Chinese stored snow in cellars in the 6th century,
so that ice cream could have been invented in that part of the world
and introduced to Italy on Marco Polo's return from his travels. This
same theory has it that the recipes Marco Polo brought back with him
were passed on to the French Parliament by the chefs of Catherine de
Medici when she married the French king Henry II.
UNSURPASSED IN THE WORLD: MARAS ICE CREAM
But let us turn now to the history of ice cream in Anatolia, to the
special ice cream of the Turks which isn't found in any other part of
the world. Centuries ago the people of Anatolia kept the winter snow
from melting by storing it in mountain crevices which they covered
with twigs. Come summer, they brought it up from its storage place,
put it in bowls used for stewed fruit and, drizzling it with molasses,
ate it. This sweet, which was called karsambac, is regarded as the
ancestor of todays ice cream. With the entry of sugar into everyday
life, fruit juices and syrups were also made and stored for
consumption in winter. And they too were poured over ice cream and
eaten with gusto.
I might add that fresh snow with molasses is still consumed in some
parts of Anatolia today. But the first thing that comes to mind at the
mention of ice cream in Turkey is the beaten ice cream of
Kahramanmaras. Not easily melted and with a consistency like taffy, it
is like nothing else in the world, unique to Turkey alone... Maras ice
cream, which is hung on a butchers hook and cut with a knife, is
believed to have been made since the 18th century. And its most
outstanding ingredient, which enhances its flavor and distinguishes it
from all other ice creams, is the salep obtained from the knobby root
of the wild orchid and ground in a mill. The ice creams made in
Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep don't cause the usual burning sensation on
the palate; indeed their soothing effect on the tongue and palate is
yet another characteristic of the ice creams of this region. The ice
cream that used to be eaten with molasses comes in a thousand and one
flavors today. Chocolate, vanilla, caramel,
pistachio, cherry, banana, raspberry, even pumpkin, not to mention
those flavored like cookies or sweets. You can have it in cups, cones
or waffle sandwiches. Again, years ago, we could only find ice cream
at shops that specialized in uniquely winter treats like pickles or
the fermented hot drink boza, and whose trade in ice cream was
therefore limited to summer.
Times have changed, but ice cream continues, and will continue, to
sweeten the palates of everyone from seven to seventy all year
round...
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