salep

plural saleps · alternative saleb · alternative saloop · alternative salop

1. countableuncountableA starch or jelly made out of plants in the Orchidaceae family, such as early-purple orchids (Orchis mascula).

   In Turkey, Iran, and Syria salep is popular as a restorative and also as a provocative to amatory activity.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 213

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   Where finally the draining of marſhy grounds can not be effected at a reſponſible expence, ſome plants may perhaps be cultivated with profit to the cultivator; as in ſome ſituations the feſtica fluitans, floating feſcue, callitriche, ſtar-graſs; or in others the orchis for the purpoſe of making ſaloop by drying the peeled roots in an oven.

   1800, Erasmus Darwin, “Sect. XI. Of Draining and Watering Lands.”, in Phytologia: Or The Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening. With the Theory of Draining Morasses and with an Improved Construction of the Drill Plough, Dublin: Printed for P. Byrne, 108, Grafton-Street, →OCLC, section XI.2.4.5, page 245

   The tubers of one [orchid] species, Orchis mascula, produce a flour called salep, which was made into a drink known as "saloop" in 18th-century London, as an alternative to coffee (Charles Lamb thought it the ideal breakfast for chimney sweeps). Salep is a Turkish word with an even more precise derivation (it's from the Arabic for "fox's testicles"). Despite this, the Turks still use it to make a strange elastic ice cream, eaten with a knife and fork, which carries a pungent aftertaste compared by one commentator to the scent of "goats on a rainy day". Salep ice cream is so popular that O. mascula is now a protected species in Turkey.

   2014 April 5, “Quite interesting: A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week; QI orchids you not”, in The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), page W22

2. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of saloop (“aromatic drink originally made with salep”).