Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Salep
Sal′ep
(săl′ĕp)
, Noun.
[Ar.
sahleb
, perhaps a corruption of an Arabic word for fox, one Ar. name of the orchis signifying literally, fox’s testicles: cf. F. salep
.] [Written also
saleb
, salop
, and saloop
.] The dried tubers of various species of
Orchis
, and Eulophia
. It is used to make a nutritious beverage by treating the powdered preparation with hot water. U. S. Disp.
Webster 1828 Edition
Salep
SAL'EP
,Noun.
In the materia medica, the dried root of a species of orchis; also, a preparation of this root to be used as food.
Definition 2024
salep
salep
English
Noun
salep (plural saleps)
- A starch or jelly made out of orchid-like plants.
- 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:
- 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.
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