Kabak Tatlısı

Kabak tatlısı is a Turkish sweet made by cooking pumpkin with sugar. The orange flesh is arranged on a plate and served with tahin, crushed walnuts and kaymak. It is a dish in which the pumpkin itself is cut into pieces and eaten after it has absorbed the sweetness.

Cooking in the juice drawn out by sugar

In one example from Antalya, the pumpkin is peeled, cut, sprinkled with sugar and left for a day. During that time the pumpkin releases its juice, so it is transferred to a pot as it is and cooked. It is cooked until a knife passes through the flesh, and once the cooking liquid has thickened, it is left to cool. A distinctive feature of this method is that the sugar is applied first and the juice it draws out is used for cooking.

The kabak tatlısı of Adapazarı is presented as a dish that uses the region’s white kabocha squash. Some versions are baked after being cooked and others are not, and they are served with tahin, kaymak, walnuts and other toppings. Even under the same name, the finished dish varies depending on the pumpkin variety and the final cooking step.

Hatay’s version with a crisp surface

The registered form from Hatay in the south includes a step in which the cut pumpkin is soaked in the clear liquid that forms on top after lime is dissolved in water and left to settle. Calcium penetrates from the outside, so the surface becomes firm while the inside stays soft. After soaking, the pumpkin is rinsed and washed repeatedly in water, then cooked in sugar syrup. Both the handling of the flesh and the texture differ from the Antalya method, in which sugar is applied first. According to the geographical indication registration document, it is served in crescent shapes or cubes, topped with tahin and walnuts to taste.

Fuat Şahinoğlu, a confectioner in Hatay, was splitting large white pumpkins, selecting seeds for the following year and then cutting the flesh into pieces. Hakan handles the steps of washing the soaked pumpkin and cooking it in syrup. The pumpkins grown by farmers become a sweet through the hands of the confectioners.

Unlike sweets set with milk or flour, this dish keeps the shape and structure of the pumpkin flesh at the center of the plate. Adding tahin made from ground sesame or a milk cream to the sweet cooking syrup lets you enjoy the sweetness of the flesh together with the richness of the tahin or cream.

Glossary