Turkish Delight

People throng Eminönü stores for Ramadan feast shopping

With only a few days left until Eid al-Fitr, people have started thronging the shops in Istanbul's Eminönü district, famous for traditional Turkish delight and Ottomon-inspired sweets, to do holiday shopping.

As preparations for Ramadan are ongoing, in Eminönü, flamboyant candies, chocolates and Turkish delights have taken their place on the counters.

Confectionery keeps 157-year-old Turkish delight tradition alive

Hafız Mustafa, one of Istanbul's most famous confectioneries, continues its world-famous Turkish delight tradition with its 157-year-old recipe.

The sweetshop was established in 1864 by İsmail Hakkı Bey in the Bahçekapı neighborhood of Istanbul's Fatih district, where he started to make rock candy.

Sweet stories and sticky histories

Istanbul has been has the hub of three imperial haute cuisines, making use of not only lo-cal but imported foodstuffs ranging from caviar from the north coast of the Black Sea to spices from India. But one special import ingredient has defined its royal cuisine right from the start. Here Mary I??n explains: