The Story of Lokum: From Ottoman Istanbul to Turkish Delight

For a Reader in a Hurry: Lokum, known in English as Turkish delight, developed within the Ottoman confectionery tradition and became closely associated with Istanbul's sweet-making culture. Earlier confections used ingredients such as honey, molasses, and flour, while the sugar-and-starch form familiar today developed as refined sugar and starch became more widely available in the nineteenth century. Hacı Bekir Efendi, who opened his confectionery in Istanbul's Bahçekapı district in 1777, became one of the best-known names in the history of lokum, although the sweet cannot be traced to a single documented inventor. The word lokum is often associated with the Ottoman expression rahatü'l-hulküm, "comfort for the throat," while its precise etymology remains debated. Traditional lokum is made by cooking sugar, starch, and water to create its characteristic soft texture, with varieties flavored with rose, mastic, citrus, pistachio, hazelnut, and other ingredients. By the nineteenth century, lokum was also reaching European consumers and becoming known in English as "Turkish delight."

If you have spent any time around a Turkish table, you have probably met lokum already. It may have arrived beside a cup of Turkish coffee, in a box someone brought when visiting, or on a small plate passed around after a meal.

I grew up simply knowing it as lokum. "Turkish delight" is the name that became familiar in English. Once I started looking into the history of those two names, I found a much longer story than I expected. There are older Ottoman sweets, different accounts of where the word came from, an Istanbul confectionery founded in 1777, and nineteenth-century exhibitions that carried lokum far beyond the Ottoman Empire.

Where the Word Lokum Comes From

The history of the name is not completely settled.

Lokum is frequently connected with the Ottoman expression rahatü'l-hulküm, derived from Arabic and usually translated as "comfort for the throat."

Another proposed connection is the Arabic luqma, meaning a morsel or mouthful. Both explanations appear in discussions of the word's history, so I would be cautious about giving lokum one neat translation and leaving it there.

By the nineteenth century, lokum had become the familiar Turkish name. It also began producing words and expressions of its own. A confectioner or shop specializing in lokum can be called a lokumcu. Fıstıklı lokum contains pistachios, fındıklı lokum hazelnuts, and güllü lokum is flavored with rose.

There is also lokum gibi, literally "like lokum." You can use it for something especially soft or pleasant, so the expression has traveled well beyond the confectionery shop.

Before Modern Lokum

The further back you go, the harder it becomes to draw a clean line around what counts as lokum.

Ottoman confectioners were already making sweets with honey, grape molasses, flour, starch, syrups, flower waters, fruits, and nuts. One older preparation that appears in discussions of lokum's history is paluze, also known as pelte, a thickened sweet made in different forms across the Ottoman culinary world.

The dates vary depending on the source. Özge Samancı places written references to rahatü'l-hulküm in the seventeenth century and recipes closer to later lokum in the eighteenth. Fatma Coşkun gives an earlier chronology, writing that lokum was known in Anatolia by the fourteenth century, entered the Ottoman palace menu in the seventeenth century, and reached its later form in the nineteenth. These are different historical accounts, and I think it is more useful to keep that uncertainty visible than to give lokum an artificial birthday.

What becomes clearer in the nineteenth century is the changing recipe. Refined sugar became increasingly available, and starch gave confectioners much greater control over texture. The soft, smooth confection that could be cut into pieces began to resemble the lokum we recognize today.

1777, Bahçekapı

This is where Hacı Bekir enters the story.

Bekir Efendi came to Istanbul from Araç in Kastamonu and opened a confectionery shop in Bahçekapı in 1777. The location is easy to understand if you know that part of Istanbul. Bahçekapı sits close to Eminönü and the Spice Bazaar, in an area that had long been crowded with merchants, food sellers, imported goods, and ingredients arriving from elsewhere.

Bekir Efendi later performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and became known as Hacı Bekir Efendi. His confectionery became famous for lokum and akide şekeri, and his reputation eventually reached the Ottoman palace. During the reign of Mahmud II, he served as a palace confectioner, and the title şekercibaşı, chief confectioner, became associated with the family business.

The shop he founded did something rather extraordinary: it survived.

Hacı Bekir still operates in Istanbul today. That is one of my favorite details in this story because Bahçekapı is not simply a place on an old map. You can still walk through the same part of Istanbul and buy lokum from the business that traces its history to that eighteenth-century shop.

How Lokum Changed in the Nineteenth Century

The basic ingredients of traditional lokum look simple on paper: sugar, starch, and water. Getting them to behave correctly is another matter.

The mixture has to be cooked slowly until it thickens and becomes glossy. An acid such as limon tuzu, citric acid, can be used to help control crystallization. Flavorings and nuts are added before the mixture is allowed to set, cut, and coated.

Starch is central to the characteristic texture. Traditional lokum therefore gets its structure without gelatin. Commercial products sold as Turkish delight can use different formulations, so I would check the ingredients rather than assume every boxed product follows the traditional method.

The nineteenth century is also interesting from the chemistry side. In 1811, German chemist Gottlieb Sigismund Constantin Kirchhoff demonstrated the conversion of starch into glucose through acid hydrolysis. This discovery was not made for lokum, and there is no reason to turn Kirchhoff into a hidden inventor of Turkish delight. It belongs to the broader history of nineteenth-century starch and sugar processing, the same period in which refined ingredients were changing confectionery production.

Hacı Bekir's company history credits Bekir Efendi with introducing starch in place of flour in its lokum production. That is a much more specific claim than saying he invented lokum itself.

What Is Actually in Lokum?

Walk into a good lokumcu and rose is only the beginning.

Gül suyu, rose water, has a long history in Ottoman and Middle Eastern cooking.

Damla sakızı, mastic, connects the sweet with the Aegean. Pistachios bring another regional tradition into the box, particularly the confectionery culture of southeastern Anatolia.

You will also find hazelnuts, walnuts, citrus, pomegranate, coconut, and many combinations developed by individual confectioners. Some pieces are relatively plain. Others contain so many nuts that the balance between confection and filling changes completely.

The texture varies too. Traditional lokum should be soft and yielding rather than rubbery. After cooking, it needs time to set before it can be cut and coated.

This is one of those foods where watching the process explains a great deal that a finished box cannot show.

Making Lokum in Istanbul

Most visitors to Istanbul meet lokum after all the work has been done. The pieces are sitting behind glass, neatly cut and ready to be weighed.

There is a hands-on Turkish delight workshop in Istanbul's Old City where visitors can make lokum themselves and work with traditional flavors such as rose and mastic.

Make Turkish Delight in Istanbul

Cook lokum from scratch and work with traditional flavors such as rose and mastic in a hands-on workshop in Istanbul's Old City.

View the Workshop

From Istanbul to International Exhibitions

By the late nineteenth century, lokum was traveling well beyond Istanbul.

Hacı Bekir products appeared at the large international exhibitions that brought foods, crafts, manufactured goods, and new technologies before audiences from many countries. The company records a silver medal at the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873, another silver in Cologne in 1888, and gold medals in Brussels in 1897 and Niš in 1906.

I like these exhibition records because they give us something more concrete than the usual story of lokum somehow finding its way to Europe. Ottoman confectionery was being deliberately presented to international audiences.

Somewhere within this wider nineteenth-century movement, lokum also became Turkish delight in English.

Hacı Bekir's family history tells the story of a British traveler who took lokum home and introduced it to friends under that name. It is a good family story, although the English expression cannot be securely traced to one documented traveler.

French took a different route. Loukoum stays much closer to the Turkish word, and you can still hear lokum inside it.

Lokum and Turkish Coffee

For me, one of the most familiar places for lokum is beside Turkish coffee.

It fits easily into ikram, the Turkish habit of offering something to a guest. You do not need to prepare a large dessert every time someone sits down for coffee. A small plate of lokum works perfectly well.

There is also the expression:

Tatlı yiyelim, tatlı konuşalım.

"Let us eat sweet and speak sweetly."

You will hear the phrase in contexts that have nothing specifically to do with lokum, but it belongs very comfortably beside a Turkish coffee cup and a small plate of sweets.

And if you are standing at the counter of a lokumcu, the conversation may be much simpler:

Fıstıklı mı, güllü mü?

Pistachio or rose?

Bringing Lokum Home

Buying lokum in Türkiye is more interesting when you can choose it piece by piece.

A specialist lokumcu may have trays of different varieties, and you can build a box according to what you actually like. I would pay attention to texture as much as flavor. Two pistachio lokums can be surprisingly different depending on the confectioner.

Lokum also travels well, which has probably helped it remain such a familiar gift. A box is easy to carry to someone's house or put into a suitcase before leaving Türkiye.

Taste Turkish Delight at Home

A selection of Turkish delight for readers who would like to try lokum outside Türkiye.

View on Amazon

Turkish Words to Know

• lokum — Turkish delight

• lokumcu — a maker or seller of lokum

• rahatü'l-hulküm — an older expression associated with lokum, usually translated as "comfort for the throat"

• paluze / pelte — an older thickened sweet connected with the confectionery tradition in which lokum developed

• şekercibaşı — chief confectioner, an Ottoman court title

• nişasta — starch

• gül suyu — rose water

• damla sakızı — mastic

• fıstık — pistachio

• fıstıklı — with pistachios

• fındık — hazelnut

• fındıklı — with hazelnuts

• güllü — rose-flavored

• limon tuzu — citric acid

• ikram — food or drink offered to someone as a gesture of hospitality

• ikram etmek — to offer or serve food or drink

• ağızda erimek — to melt in the mouth

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What does lokum mean?

A: The word is often connected with the Ottoman expression rahatü'l-hulküm, usually translated as "comfort for the throat." Another proposed etymology connects it with Arabic luqma, meaning a morsel or mouthful. The exact development of the modern word remains debated.

Q: Did Hacı Bekir invent lokum?

A: There is no documented single inventor of lokum. Related sweets and references predate Hacı Bekir's shop. He opened his confectionery in Bahçekapı in 1777 and became one of the most important names in the development and history of modern lokum.

Q: What was eaten before modern lokum?

A: Ottoman confectionery already included thickened sweets made with flour or starch and sweetened with honey or molasses. Paluze, also known as pelte, belongs to this older confectionery tradition.

Q: Is the original Hacı Bekir business still operating?

A: Yes. The company founded by Hacı Bekir in Istanbul traces its history to the Bahçekapı confectionery opened in 1777.

Q: Does traditional lokum contain gelatin?

A: Traditional lokum gets its structure from cooked sugar and starch, so gelatin is unnecessary. Commercial products can use different formulations, particularly products sold internationally under the general name Turkish delight.

Q: Why is lokum called Turkish delight in English?

A: The English name became established as lokum circulated outside the Ottoman Empire. Hacı Bekir's family history attributes the expression to a British traveler, although there is no firm documentation identifying one person as the originator of the term.

Q: When did lokum become known in Europe?

A: Lokum was reaching European consumers during the nineteenth century. Hacı Bekir products received awards at international exhibitions beginning with Vienna in 1873, followed by exhibitions in Cologne, Brussels, and Niš.

Q: Why is lokum served with Turkish coffee?

A: Lokum fits naturally into ikram, the custom of offering food or drink to a guest. Its sweetness also works well alongside the stronger flavor of Turkish coffee. It is one of several sweets that may be served with coffee.

Q: What kinds of lokum should I try in Türkiye?

A: Rose, pistachio, hazelnut, mastic, citrus, and walnut are good places to start. A specialist lokumcu lets you compare varieties from the same producer and choose a mixed box.

Afiyet olsun,

Seda

Sources and Further Reading

• Özge Samancı, "Lokumun Tarihçesi: Lokum Nasıl Ortaya Çıktı?" Lezzet. A food-history account discussing early references to rahatü'l-hulküm, older confectionery traditions, and the development of lokum.

• Fatma Coşkun, "Lokum." Türkiye Turizm Ansiklopedisi, 2025. Coşkun presents an earlier chronology for lokum in Anatolia and its place in Ottoman palace food culture.

• Hacı Bekir, "Our History." The company's historical account of the Bahçekapı business, its Ottoman palace connections, and its international exhibition awards. As a company history, it is most useful alongside independent food-history sources.

• H. Völksen, "Die Entdeckung der Stärkeverzuckerung (Säurehydrolyse) durch G. S. C. Kirchhoff im Jahre 1811." Starch/Stärke, 1949. A historical source for Kirchhoff's starch hydrolysis discovery.

  
  

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