Seasonal Drinks to Warm Up Winter in Istanbul

Seasonal Drinks to Warm Up Winter in Istanbul

By SUSANNE FOWLER

Posts | City Guide

Once winter arrives in full force, with wind whipping down the Bosporus from the Black Sea, and the snow flurries gathering atop minarets, Turks start to take refuge in seasonal drinks like sweet sahlep, or hearty boza, to help them fortify against the elements.

A tour of cafes and restaurants that serve these beverages provides a way to explore Istanbul and its culinary history.

Istanbul Culinary Institute‘s sleek restaurant offers mugs of sahlep – a hot sort of liquid tapioca made from the ground roots of Central Anatolian mountain orchids. The Institute makes it from scratch, mixed with wheat starch and milk, and dusted with ground ginger and cinnamon, for 10 Turkish lira, or $5.40.

Hande Bozdogan, director and founder of the Institute, is a fan of the beverage.

“My grandmother always said it is good for the cold and coughing so we always had it at home in my childhood,’’ Ms. Bozdogan said this week, adding that it’s important to seek out places that use the authentic powder and not an industrial mix.

At the more traditional cafe inside Alimuhiddin Haci Bekir on Istiklal Caddesi, finding the sahlep is a bit of a challenge. Once inside Haci Bekir, founded in in 1777 by a chief confectioner to the Ottoman court, customers must pass the walls of specialty lokum (Turkish delight) and go around the display cases of feather-light pistachio macaroons to sit at a table. There, a cup of sahlep runs 4 lira, or $2.14.

If sweet is not your thing, opt for boza, a filling high-carb drink made from fermented bulgar, and sometimes served with a few roasted chickpeas. Push-cart vendors used to wander the streets on dark evenings, calling out “BOHHH-zaaaaaah” to residents who then rushed out into the chill to buy a pitcherful.

Nowadays, the street vendors are more scarce, but people still venture to the picturesque two-story Vefa Bozacizi, not far from the Grand Bazaar. The drink is said to contain vitamins A, four Bs, C and E, plus lactic acid for digestion. The Vefa company, established in 1876 by Albanian immigrants, also claims that boza, 2.4 lira ($1.30) per glass, is effective against cholera. A visit there has an almost reverential feel; indeed, the place pays homage to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic: a glass from which he drank boza is on display.

via Seasonal Drinks to Warm Up Winter in Istanbul – NYTimes.com.