Pişmaniye or pishmaniye is a Turkish sweet

Turkish cuisine

Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...

 in fine strands made by blending flour roasted in butter into pulled sugar. It is sometimes garnished with ground pistachio

Pistachio

The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...

 nuts. Although the texture is similar to cotton candy

Cotton candy

Cotton candy , candy floss or candyfloss or candy buttox , or fairy floss is a form of spun sugar. Since cotton candy is mostly air, a small initial quantity of sugar generates a tremendously greater final volume, causing servings to be physically large and voluminous...

, both method and ingredients are different.

Until recently pişmaniye used to be made at home in most regions of Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, but this tradition is now rapidly disappearing. Today the manufacturing process is partially mechanised. There are many different Turkish names used in different provinces, the most common being tel helva, çekme helva, tel tel, tepme helva and keten helva.

Origin

The earliest Turkish reference to pişmaniye is a recipe by Şirvani, a physician writing during the 1430s. The Persian form pashmak, which is the origin of the Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 name pişmaniye occurs in the poetry of the Iranian poet Ebu Ishak, also known as Bushak (d. 1423 or 1427).

See also

• Halva
  Halva
  Halva refers to many types of dense, sweet confections, served across the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Malta and the Jewish world.The term halva ,...
  
  
• Pashmak
  Pashmak
  Pashmak is a form of Persian candy floss / cotton candy, made from sesame and sugar. A common myth is that Pashmak is made with ant saliva, although this is not true...
  
   - Persian Candy Floss
• Dragon's beard candy
  Dragon's beard candy
  Dragon's beard candy is a handmade traditional art of Ancient China. It is also a traditional Chinese sweet similar to spun sugar, which can be found in many Chinese communities...
  
  - A Chinese equivalent.

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