Güllaç

Güllaç
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	Turkey
Main ingredients	corn starch, wheat flour, walnuts, milk, pomegranate
	Media: Güllaç;

Güllaç (pronounced [ɟylˈlatʃ]) is a Turkish dessert made with milk, rose water, pomegranate and a special kind of pastry.^[1] It is consumed especially during Ramadan.^[2]

Güllaç is considered by some as being the origin of baklava.^[3] The similarities between the two desserts are many, such as the use of thin layers of dough. Güllaç dough is now prepared with corn starch and wheat flour, although originally it was made only with wheat starch. Güllaç contains walnuts between the layers that are put in milk.

Its first known mention is in a 14th-century book, Yinshan Zhenyao (飮膳正要), a food and health manual written by Hu Sihui (忽思慧), a physician to the Mongol court of the Yuan dynasty. The book documents primarily Mongol and Turkic dishes that exhibit a limited amount of Chinese influence.^[3]

Güllaç was used for making Güllaç Lokması and Güllaç Baklavası, old Turkish desserts made during the Ottoman period in Turkey.

Etymology

Turkish "güllaç" is thought to be loaned from the Persian word گلانج (gulanc). The earliest record of the word in a Turkic language dates back to 1477. It is first attested in the Persian-Turkish dictionary Lügat-i Halîmî [tr].^[4]

References

^ Engin Akin (6 October 2015). Essential Turkish Cuisine: 200 Recipes for Small Plates and Family Meals. ABRAMS. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-61312-871-8.
^ Sumbul Ali-Karamali (2013). Growing Up Muslim: Understanding the Beliefs and Practices of Islam. Random House Children's Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-385-74096-8.
^ ^a ^b Husihui; Paul D. Buell; Eugene N. Anderson; Charles Perry (2010). A soup for the Qan: Chinese dietary medicine of the Mongol era as seen in Hu Szu-Hui's Yin-shan cheng-yao (2nd rev. and expanded ed.). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-18020-6.
^ "Güllaç". Nişanyan Sözlük. Retrieved 2020-10-21.