Salep

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Orchis mascula, the species most commonly associated with Salep.

Salep (Turkish salep from Arabic سحلب saḥlab; cf. Hebrew סחלב sachlav referring to both orchid as well as the salep drink) is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of various species of orchid, which contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called bassorin.

Salep is also the name of a beverage made from salep flour, whose popularity spread beyond Turkey and the Middle East to England and Germany before the rise of coffee and tea. In England the drink was known as "saloop".

The beverage salep is sometimes referred to as Turkish Delight, though that name is more commonly used for lokum. Other desserts are also made from salep flour, including salep pudding and salep ice cream. The Kahramanmaraş region of Turkey is a major producer of salep known as Salepi Maraş.

It is claimed that the name salep comes from the Arabic expression ḥasyu al-tha`lab "fox testicles"—a graphic description of the appearance of orchid tubers; this would be somewhat analogous to the word orchid which comes from ορχις, the Greek word for testicle and would account for salep being considered an aphrodisiac. It is argued that such an etymology is probably incorrect since Arabic saḥlab and Hebrew sachlav are so similar that is more likely that they share a common origin rather than both being a corruption of tha`lab, the Arabic word for fox. As against that, the Hebrew word may be a direct borrowing from Arabic.

The popularity of salep in Turkey has led to a decline in the populations of wild orchids. As a result it is illegal to export true salep out of the country.[1] Thus, many instant salep mixes are made with artificial flavoring.

The Ancient Romans also used ground orchid bulbs to make drinks, which they called by a number of names, especially satyrion and priapiscus. As the names indicate, they likewise considered it to be a powerful aphrodisiac.^{[citation needed]}

In Joan Aiken's novel Is, saloop is mentioned as conferring long life.