Mesir Macunu () is a traditional Turkish sweet associated with the city of

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

. Earlier versions of Mesir macunu were not sweet, but rather spicy in flavor.

Macun Macun (in Turkish also Macun şekeri) is a soft, sweet and colorful Turkish toffee paste. It is a street food that may be prepared with many herbs and spices. Macun originated from spicy preparations of Mesir macunu, a traditional Turkish her ...

is a sweet Turkish confectionery

toffee Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepar ...

paste that originated from spicy preparations of Mesir macunu.

Herbs and spices used

Below is a list of spices and herbs used in making the Mesir Paste, along with their Turkish and Latin names: *

Allspice Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry of ''Pimenta dioica'', a midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm par ...

(Yeni bahar) (Pimenta dioica) *Alpina officinarum root (Havlıcan kökü) (Alpina officinarium) *

Anise Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, ...

(Anason) (Anisum vulgare) * Black cumin (Çörek otu) (Nigella sativa) *

Black Myrobalan ''Terminalia chebula'', commonly known as black- or chebulic myrobalan, is a species of ''Terminalia'', native to South Asia from Pakistan, India and Nepal east to southwest China (Yunnan), and south to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Vietnam.Flora of ...

(Kara halile) (Terminalia nigra) *

Black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

(Karabiber) (Piper nigrum) *

Buckthorn ''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 140 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found thr ...

(Topalak or Akdiken) (Nerprun alaterne) *

Cardamon Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are re ...

(Kakule) (Elettaria cardamomum) * Cassia (Hiyarsenbe) (Cassia) * Chebulic myrobalan (Kara halile) (Terminalia chebula) *China root (Cop-i cini) ( Smilax china) *

Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

(Tarçın) (Cinnamomum verum) *

Clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

s (Karanfil) (Syzygium aromaticum) *

Coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

(Hindistan cevizi) (Cocos nucifera) *

Coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

(Kişniş) (Coriandum sativum) *

Cubeb ''Piper cubeba'', cubeb or tailed pepper is a plant in genus ''Piper (plant), Piper'', cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java (island), Java and Sumatra, hence sometimes called Java pepper. The fruits are gathere ...

(Kebabe) (Cubebae fructus) *

Cumin Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...

(Kimyon) (Cuminum cyminum) *Dried

orange blossom The orange blossom is the fragrant flower of the orange (fruit), ''Citrus sinensis'' (orange tree). It is used in perfume making and has been written about as an aphrodisiac. Orange blossom Essential oil, essence is an important component in ...

(Portakal çiçeği) *

Fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...

(Rezene) (Foeniculum vulgare) * Galingale (Havlıcan) (Alpinia officinarum) *

Ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

(Zencefil) (Zingibar officinalis) *Iksir sugar (Iksir şekeri) *India blossom (Hindistan çiceği) * Java Pepper (Kuyruklu biber) (Piper cubeba) *

Licorice Liquorice (Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...

extract (Meyan balı) (Glycyrrhiza uralensis fisch) * Licorice root (Meyan kökü) (Glycyrrhiza glabra) * Mastic (Çam sakızı) (Mastichum) *

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

(Hintdarisi) (Pennisetum glaucum) *

Myrrh Myrrh (; from an unidentified ancient Semitic language, see '' § Etymology'') is a gum-resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the '' Commiphora'' genus, belonging to the Burseraceae family. Myrrh resin has been used ...

(Murrusafi) (Commiphora Molmol) * Muskroot (Sümbül) (Adoxa moschatellina) *

Mustard seed Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three diff ...

(Hardal tohumu) (Brassica nigra) * Orange peel (Portakal kabugu) *

Rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. ...

(Ravend) (Rheum Palmatum) *

Saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of '' Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent ...

(Safran) (Crocus Orientalis) *

Citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the formula . It is a Transparency and translucency, colorless Weak acid, weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in Citrus, citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, ...

(Limon tuzu) * Senna (Sinameki) (Cassia senna) *

Turmeric Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...

(Zerdeçal) (Curcuma domestica) *Udulkahr (Udulkahir) *

Vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

(Vanilya) (Vanilla planifolia) *

Woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, ''Isati ...

(Çivit) (Isatis) *Yellow myrobalan (Sarı halile) (Fructus myrobalani)

References

{{UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Turkish desserts Turkish inventions Turkish words and phrases

Herbs and spices used

See also

References