After I was rising up in Jordan, my classmates and I could not resist bugging the varsity bus driver to tug over on chilly winter days every time we noticed a road cart promoting sahlab, a drink so standard throughout the Levant that it at all times overshadowed scorching chocolate. Fact be advised, the motive force wanted no convincing: He was simply as keen as we had been to cradle a scorching cup of the velvety, cinnamon-scented milk, rendering his winter gloves pointless. For us college students, sahlab was so soothing and scrumptious that it quieted our normal rambunctiousness, stifling the cacophony aboard the bus to a low murmur, if just for a second. I nonetheless crave sahlab any time the temperature drops beneath 40°F. Fortunately, it is fast and simple to make at residence.

What Is Sahlab?

Sahlab is actually sweetened, thickened milk flavored with wealthy vanilla and orange blossom water, then topped with heat cinnamon, pistachios, and infrequently shredded coconut. The consistency of sahlab sits someplace between a drink and a pudding. Some individuals want it fairly thick, nearly spoonable; others preserve it looser and extra drinkable. I fall firmly within the latter camp, favoring a thinner consistency that may be sipped simply from a mug.

The Magic—and Actuality—of Salep

Generally known as sahlab throughout the Levant and as salep in Turkey, the drink’s identify comes from saḥlab, the Arabic identify for the dried tubers of untamed orchids, that are historically used to thicken it. Though orchid tubers have been utilized in meals and drugs for hundreds of years, sahlab as a scorching milk drink is most carefully related to the Ottoman interval, when cups of sahlab had been extensively offered as a winter hotter throughout imperial territories. As a result of the orchids used for sahlab develop wild throughout elements of the Japanese Mediterranean and western Asia, together with Turkey and the Levant, their assortment is now restricted or unlawful in lots of locations.

When accessible, the tuber is most frequently offered as salep, both already floor or as dried tubers which might be later finely floor at residence utilizing a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. It thickens milk whereas including a delicate, floral, earthy aroma. 

As a result of salep is uncommon and costly, most fashionable recipes depend on cornstarch as an alternative, as I do in my recipe beneath. Whereas far much less magical-sounding, cornstarch works exceptionally nicely, producing a clean, creamy drink, offered it’s whisked right into a slurry first to stop clumps from forming. The drink also needs to be whisked continuously because it cooks within the saucepan to stop scorching and lumps.

Vanilla is a extra fashionable addition to sahlab, and rose water is usually used as an alternative of orange blossom water. I want orange blossom water, which is much much less perfumey and polarizing. Its light floral observe enhances the milk with out overwhelming it, holding the drink comforting moderately than heady.

Prepared-made sahlab mixes are extensively offered throughout the Levant and in some worldwide grocery shops within the US; they arrive in powdered kind and easily require milk. They work in a pinch, however given how fast sahlab is to make from scratch—and the way usually the mixes depend on synthetic flavorings—I a lot want to make my very own.

As we speak, sahlab stays the soothing drink I sip by means of the winter, one which makes the chilly extra tolerable and the foggy days just a little brighter.