Dondurma: Turkish ice cream
Dondurma is Turkish ice cream and completely different from the ice cream we’re used to. Stretchy, sticky and incredibly thick. In Turkey, serving dondurma is a real spectacle, but what exactly is it?
We love our baklava, and we also find it hard to resist classic dürüm, but you really should try Turkish ice cream at least once too.
What exactly is dondurma?
Dondurma is Turkish ice cream made from cream, double cream, sugar, salep and mastic. The ice cream is stretchy and sticky. It is also much chewier than the ice cream we’re used to. The ice cream is so thick because of the addition of salep, a flour made from orchids. The stickiness and elasticity come from mastic, the resin of the mastic tree. Like regular ice cream, dondurma comes in many different flavours and is often served as a side dish with desserts such as baklava.
Ice cream with a knife and fork
The most remarkable version is undoubtedly Maraş dondurma. It comes from the Kahramanmaraş region and contains a large amount of salep, making the ice cream so thick that you have to eat it with a knife and fork. And another nice thing: the salep means that the ice cream barely melts.
Where can I find dondurma?
In Turkey, dondurma stalls can be found everywhere along the roads, but you can also find them in shopping centres, for example. Dondurma is quite a spectacle because of the tricks the vendors play on their customers. For instance, they let the ice creams stick to a large spatula before customers can take them. Here in the Netherlands, you can eat Maraş dondurma at MADO in The Hague or at Serifoglu in Amsterdam.
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