A traditional helva in Turkey: Koz helva
Transkript
A traditional helva in Turkey: Koz helva
WFL Publisher Science and Technology Meri-Rastilantie 3 B, FI-00980 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: info@world-food.net Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.8 (2): 213-215. 2010 www.world-food.net A traditional helva in Turkey: Koz helva Nazan Aktaş * and M. Ali Cebirbay Nutrition Education Department, Faculty of Vocation Education, Selcuk University, Alaaddin Keykubat Campus, P. O. Box 42075, Konya, Turkey. *e-mail: naktas@selcuk.edu.tr Received 18 January 2010, accepted 18 April 2010. Abstract This study aimed to record the ingredients, recipe and production stages of koz helva, and to make it known internationally. The qualitative research method was used in the study and the data were collected in the Western Black Sea Region in Turkey. The components of helva were sugar, drinking water, Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract, sour salt and walnut. In production phase of koz helva production, some similarities and differences were found between the traditional and industrial production methods. The standard recipes be determined, and research-development activities be held to put this traditional product into international food market. Key words: Helva, Turkish helva, koz helva, traditional food, helva process. Introduction Cuisine culture has increasingly been shared among the countries in accordance with globalization, as a result of which people living in remote places have had the chance of trying different foods with different organoleptic peculiarities and production stages. Turkish cuisine takes place among the richest cuisines in the world, with its peculiar characteristics like its variety, tastes, kitchen architecture, utensils, cooking, treating and keeping methods. The geographical richness and geo-strategically position of Turkey and the historical and cultural heritage of previous civilizations which lived there have had significant impacts in the development of Turkish cuisine culture 1-5. Helvas, one of the significant components of Turkish cuisine, has a ritual, holly and cultural significance among Turkish desserts as a food served on holy or special days like birth, wedding and death ceremonies 1, 6. In Turkey, helva primarily means a dessert made from wheat flour and semolina roasted in butter with the addition of sugar syrup. However, there are also many other helva concoctions prepared industrially with different ingredients and various sensory properties 1. Helva is known as halawa, halva, halvah, halava, helva and halwa in different languages, and considered as a special dessert of Middle Eastern, Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asian countries, African countries and Turkey 6-11.The name helva is derived from hulv meaning sweet in Arabic 6. According to the Turkish Food Codex, helva is counted in the desserts group, and cited as a dessert prepared by cooking the sufficient amount of Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract and white egg with sucrose or glucose and walnut, nut or pistachio. The volume of tahin helva production is in the range of 35,000 and 40,000 tons in Turkey, which is one of the significant helva-producing countries as regards the product variety 6, 12. In Turkey, there are many types of helvas produced with different methods, such as tahin (paste of sesame) helva, kâğıt helva, çekme helva and koz helva 12. Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010 Koz is a Turkish word which means walnut in English. The main aim of this study was to investigate the ingredients, recipe and flow sheet of koz helva in order to introduce it as a traditional product in literature and to make it known internationally. Materials and Methods In this study, the qualitative method was used and the data were collected from 9 interviewees having source person peculiarities in the West Black Sea Region of Turkey, some of whom are over 30 years old experienced foremen in different helva factories, and some of whom are the factory owners. The semi-structured interview form was prepared by the researcher and the data were collected in the months between January and March, 2009. The audio-visual data related with participants were also recorded respecting their permission. The questions regarding the demographic features of the interviewees, utensils, and stages in helva production were included in the semi-structured interview forms. The duration of the interviews varied from 40 to 60 minutes. The data obtained by means of the survey form, and audio-visual recordings were evaluated according to the descriptive analyzing methods. Results The findings showed that traditional koz helva was produced in small factories at certain times of the year in the past, however, nowadays, it is produced by small and medium sized enterprises at all times throughout the year 13-16. In recent years, industrially produced koz helva has had the production license given by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs 16. The main ingredients of traditional koz helva are sugar, drinking water, Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract, sour salt and walnut. Today, in industrial production, liquid glucose instead of sugar, citric acid (E330) instead of sour salt and industrially produced Radix saponariae 213 Albae sive L. root extract instead of its traditionally produced form can be used as components 17. In Turkey, Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract has been used to bleach of helva, to prevent the separation of sesame oil from helva, to improve the textural properties and to increase the volume of helva 12. Traditional koz helva production: A traditional copper cauldron or an industrial agent in which Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root is mixed, a wooden peel to mix the mixture, and metal, wooden, or plastic moulds are the main tools used in koz helva production. In traditional way of koz helva production, piren, a plant from Ericaceae family, designed like a whisk, is used to mix and bleach the Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract in the copper cauldron. In the industrial way of koz helva production, mixing machine has replaced the piren 13, 18-20, . Koz helva is traditionally produced in three stages; supply of the ingredients and preparation, heating process and mixing, moulding-packaging 14, 16, 21, 22. The production stage of traditional koz helva is shown in Figure 1. Water Sugar Radix saponariae Albae sive L. Root Extract Weighing Sour Salt Heating Mixing and Bleaching Mixing and Boiling ~140-150°C Walnut Cooling ~ 85-90°C Moulding sour salt dissolved in water is added in the mixture before it boils, and the other half is added after it boils 19, 20, 22. Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract is added a few minutes after the boiling process is stopped. The boiled mixture is added with walnuts and cooled until it gets 85-90°C. Mixing is kept on until the ingredients are spread homogenously 13, 14, 17, 22, 23. Moulding-packaging: The mixture added with walnuts is poured into rectangular moulds made of copper or plastic with capacity of 5, 10 or 15 kg for 24 hours. The helvas taken out of the moulds are cut into 500 g, 1 kg and 2 kg pieces with cutting tools like chops and put into vacuumed packs. The wrappings made of plastic are used in packaging. The claimed shelf life of the packaged helva is stated as 12 months at +4°C in terms of the permission license taken from the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The production and consumption rates of the walnut helva is said to increase before feasts, Muslim holy days. The walnut helvas were also found to have been produced industrially at all times throughout the year in recent years, and exported to many other countries in the world, mainly to the European ones 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23. Conclusions The findings revealed that the main ingredients and cooking utensils used in koz helva production varied according to the traditional and industrial production processes. The stages followed in the production of koz helva are as follows; the supply and preparation of components, heating process and mixing, and moulding-packaging. Koz helva should be evaluated as an alternative food among the other different helvas due to its simple production process, its traditional characteristics and different organoleptic peculiarities. It is also recommended that standard recipes be determined, and research-development activities as well as innovative approaches be held to put koz helva into international food market as a traditional product. Packaging Storage Figure 1. The flow sheet of koz helva. Acknowledgements The study is the revised version of the orally presented paper at 2nd Traditional Foods Symposium in 27-30 May 2009, Van-Turkey. References Supply of the ingredients and preparation: In this stage of koz helva production, sugar, drinking water, sour salt, walnut and Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root are supplied. As a first step in traditional method of preparing the Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract, Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root is washed and broken into pieces, and soaked in water for 24 hours. Then, these roots are boiled 4 times and then filtered 22. Radix saponariae Albae sive L. root extract, whether produced traditionally or purchased commercially, is prepared by beating the plant using a piren or mixing machines. The sour salt is dissolved in water to add into mixture 16, 19, 21. Heating process and mixing: In the stage of heating process and mixing, sugar, drinking water and sour salt dissolved in water are put into a copper cauldron, mixed continuously and boiled at approximately 140-150°C for 20-30 min 16, 17. 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