Turkish Ice Cream: Why Maraş Dondurma Is Stretchy and Eaten with a Knife
Turkish ice cream (dondurma) gets its stretch from salep, a wild orchid root powder, plus goat's milk. What it is, where to find it, and how locals eat it.
Turkish ice cream, dondurma to locals, behaves like no scoop you grew up with. It is sweet, creamy, stretchy, and chewy at the same time. The stretch comes from salep, a powder ground from the dried roots of wild orchids, and the traditional base is goat’s milk and sugar. That short ingredient list produces a dessert dense enough to be served with a knife and fork.
This guide is for first-timers who want to know what they are biting into, returning visitors hunting the denser Maraş style, and anyone landing in winter who assumes ice cream season is over. It isn’t.
What Makes Turkish Ice Cream Different?
Dondurma is literally the Turkish word for frozen or freezing. The local rendition of ice cream differs from Western styles mainly in texture: traditional dondurma stretches like gum and chews back. That behavior comes from salep, a special type of powdered orchid bulb. The orchids are endemic to the Kahramanmaraş region of Turkey, and dondurma was first made in that city centuries ago.
Beyond salep, the traditional recipe needs only goat’s milk and sugar. In some parts of the country, makers also add gum mastic, an aromatic resin harvested from gum trees grown on the Aegean coast of Turkey and Greece.
The full ingredient list is short:
- Goat’s milk
- Sugar
- Salep (powdered bulbs of wild orchids)
- Gum mastic (rarely used)
Want to test the stretch in your own kitchen? Our Turkish ice cream recipe shows how to make a homemade version of dondurma.
Dondurma at a Glance
| Style | Where to find it | How it’s served | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Street cart dondurma | Vendors’ carts across the country | In a cone, after the cone trick | The show is half the purchase |
| Maraş dondurması | Cafes all around Turkey | On a plate with a knife and fork | Extra salep makes it resist melting |
| Dondurma as a side | Baklava shops and restaurants | Beside baklava and helva, or atop warm künefe | Sade (plain) is the classic pairing |
| Hot salep | Ice cream shops turned winter cafes | In a cup, sprinkled with cinnamon | Same ingredients, served steaming |
Popular Flavors of Maraş Dondurması
You can find dondurma all across the country at baklava shops, street vendors, and restaurants. The flavor list runs long. Locals, though, circle back to the same three.
Summertime turns the whole dessert table into an excuse for dondurma. It shows up as a side to nearly everything:
- baklava and irmik helvası, the Turkish semolina dessert;
- tavuk göğsü, the famous chicken breast pudding, and profiteroles;
- a scoop sitting on top of a freshly cooked, warm künefe.
Tricks of the Trade
Buying dondurma from a street seller is as much a show as a transaction. The fez-capped men in traditional robes set up shop in their ice cream carts and ring bells with the long dondurma scoop. If you somehow miss the bells, follow the laughter. Crowds gather to watch the sellers tease young and old alike, flipping the scoop from cone to cone while the buyer’s hand grabs at air.
Goat’s milk dondurma is also one of the tastings on our Kadıköy street food tour, no cone juggling required. And if you would rather sit down with a bowl than wrestle a vendor for it, we keep a list of the best ice cream shops in Istanbul.
Kahramanmaraş Dondurması
The most distinctive type of Turkish ice cream is Maraş dondurması, named for the Kahramanmaraş region in Southern Anatolia where it originated. It contains more of the thick, sticky salep than the standard variety, which gives it a particular resistance to melting. So cafes all around Turkey hand it over with cutlery. Yes, ice cream with a knife and fork.
Ice Cream in Winter
Visiting outside the summer months changes very little. Dondurma is easy to find year-round, and when a frozen dessert feels like punishment, there is a warm answer: a piping hot cup of salep, made from the same ingredients as the ice cream and sprinkled with cinnamon.
One taste of the sticky, creamy stuff and you will probably spend the rest of your stay working through the flavors. For everything else your stomach should know before landing, start with our Istanbul food guide.
