Istanbul / Taksim

It’s made from sesame oil. If the taste is strong, it means it has good quality. Also you can find Helva with cacao or pistachio too. They are also nice. Its name is coming from "Halwa" which means "Nice and sweet" in Arabic language.

It’s almost same with Tahin Helvası. The tradition of Cuma Helvası is: Helva producers are defined Friday and let the workers prepare themselves Halva without any restrictions. And since the workers prepare this for their selves, they say it’s more tasty. The exceeding Halva is packed and sold in their stores as "Cuma Helvası". "Cuma" means "Friday" in Turkish

It’s classical Halva, but is melted inside the owen and the taste will get a little softer. Generally Turkish people eat this with ice-cream to balance the hot taste.

It’s with vanilla or cacao. It’s soft like a silk and a little sticky. They generally put cracked pistachio or hazelnut on it. "Pişman" means "Regretful" in Turkish, and the name is coming from a small story: The production of Pişmaniye was so hard, and when they do any small mistake, the production becomes waste and the producers becomes regretful.

It’s also like Pişmaniye and Kastamonu Çekme Helva, but the production techniques are different. Saray Helvası is prepared from pressed Pişmaniye. Taste is very similar.

It’s first prepared in Ottoman Palace in Edirne (Edirne was old capital city of Ottoman before Istanbul). An Egyptian candle maker prepared this with 41 different spices for Ottoman Sultan II. Murat, and asked him to give a name for this. II. Murat loved this Halva and gave it this name. It’s given in the ottoman hospitals  for curing various illness for free in the history.

​It’s very basic and cheap dessert. In Turkish traditions, it’s prepared to share happiness and sorrow. It’s shape is given with a spoon.

It is first prepared by a woman who bought too much roasted chickpea and could not finish all. Instead of being spoiled, she used blender to make it like a flour, and mixed it with butter, milk and sugar. And it had a very nice taste. Cinnamon is also very nice on it.

It is prepared with lamb milk, and famous in Çanakkale, Tekirdağ and Edirne. Generally you can find good quality Peynir Helvası in meatball restaurants. Baked Peynir Helvası inside oven makes the taste more delicious. Reyhan Hüsmenoğlu is the main cooker of this dessert. He came from Kosovo to Turkey in 1912.

The difference of Kürek Helva with classical helva is, Kürek Helva needs more experience and expertise to prepare because it can be prepared just with old production techniques.

Since the taste of Halva is strong for hot summer days, the producers sells this Halva which has softer taste. It is also very easy to prepare, and it is cheaper.

It can be eaten like this, or with ice-cream inside. Turkish tradition is, eating it in boat or theme parks. It’s very enjoyable to eat it.

Even its name is Rolled Halva, its shape is cubic and easier to eat. It’s like Pişmaniye. The history is, the father of a very beautiful girl told that, "If a gentleman wants to marry my daughter, he should prepare a dessert which is thinner than her beautiful hairs.". And a young man "Abdulsamet" prepared this dessert, and married with the beautiful girl.

It’s like Pişmaniye but it’s like a stick and its not soft like Pişmaniye. Cacao, Vanilla and Pistachio are the options, and all are delicious. Its name is coming from a tradition. 2 teams play a game which is played with Met (Stick). The team who lost the game, prepares this for the winner team with long effort.

​Its name is coming from the Island Cos (Greece). A candle maker name Marios Paraskevi was preparing this and the Grand Vizier loved this halva, and brought the candle maker to the Ottoman Palace. He put halva between 2 wafers with pistachio and hazelnut.

It’s generally mother-made. In many seafood restaurants, they serve it hot and also ice-cream inside. Pine nut makes it more tasty.

Ceviz Helvası has a 300 years history. It was famous in Burdur city because the walnut quality is great in this city. Mustafa Leblebici is the first person who prepared Ceviz Helvası. The tradition is, Burdur families are very friendly, and generally they have entertainments (Story telling, playing games and singing songs) with big family groups, and Ceviz Helvası is prepared by the house owner to the visitors.

It is very simple dessert prepared with butter, milk, sugar, vanilla and flour. Even it seems simple, it is very hard to get a good taste. And surprisingly, it is very delicious.