Salep...Apa tu..?

         Lagi berkenaan orkid yang boleh dimakan..Pernah dengar tentang salep? Salep adalah sejenis bahan makanan yang dihasilkan dari ubi beberapa jenis orkid tanah terutamanya spesis Orchis..Spesis ini banyak terdapat di kawasan beriklim sederhana seperti di kawasan Medittereanean, tengah dan selatan Eropah dan utara Asia. Salep telah lama digunakan sebagai bahan makanan di Timur Tengah dan sebahagian Eropah.Yang mempopularkan penggunaan Salep ini ialah negaraTurki dimana mereka menjadikannya sebagai minuman tradisi
 

        Rencana di bawah adalah berkaitan dengan salep..bagaimana ia dihasilkan dan diproses serta penggunaannya sebagai bahan makanan.

         Tubers required for making Salep are taken up at the close of the summer, when the seed-vessels are fully formed, as the next year's tubers then contain the largest amount of starchy matter and are full and fleshy.The shrivelled ones having been thrown aside, those which are plump are washed and then immersed for a short time in boiling water, this scalding process destroying their vitality and removing the bitterness of their fresh state and making them dry more readily. The outer skins are then rubbed off and the tubers are dried, either by exposure to the sun, or to a gentle artificial heat in an oven for ten minutes and heated to about bread-making temperature. On removing from the oven, their milky appearance will have changed to an almost transparent and horny state, though the bulk will not be reduced. They are then placed in the fresh air to dry and harden for a few days, when they are ready for use, or to be stored for as long as desired, as damp does not affect them. The dried tubers are generally ground to powder before using; it has a yellowish colour. 

 

         Salep is very nutritive and demulcent, for which properties it has been used from time immemorial. It forms a diet of especial value to convalescents and children, being boiled with milk or water, flavoured and prepared in the same way as arrowroot. A decoction flavoured with sugar and spice, or wine, is an agreeable drink for invalids. Sassafras chips were sometimes added, or cloves, cinnamon and ginger.

         Dried salep tubers

 Salep in powdered form

         From the large quantity of farinaceous matter contained in a small bulk, it was considered so important an article of diet as to constitute a part of the stores of every ship's company in the days of sailing ships and long voyages, an ounce, dissolved in 2 quarts of boiling water, being considered sufficient subsistence for each man per day, should provisions run short. In this form it is employed in some parts of Europe and Asia as an article of diet. It is to the mucilage contained in the tuber that Salep owes its power of forming jelly, only 1 part of Salep to 50 parts of boiling water being needed for the purpose.

         To allay irritation of the gastro-intestinal canal, it is used in mucilage made by shaking 1 part of powdered Salep with 10 parts of cold water, until it is uniformly diffused, when 90 parts of boiling water are added and the whole well agitated. It has thus been recommended as an article of diet for infants and invalids suffering from chronic diarrhoea and bilious fevers. In the German Pharmacopoeia, a mucilage of Salep appears as an official preparation.

         

Inilah minuman salep yang menjadi minuman tradisi negara Turki..

Salep yang dijual di pasaran pada masa kini..

di sini memang tak ada la..

Nowadays salep was sold in packets.. 

Beginilah cara hidangan minuman salep ini..macam air susu atau soya tetapi lebih pekat.. This is how it was served. Looks like milk but thicker in consistency..

Serbuk kayu manis di taburkan 

di atas...Sprinkled with cinnammon powder..

Kalau ada rezeki melancong ke negara Turki mesti kena try minum ni..I've got to try this if I got a chance to visit Turkey someday..