BOOZA

a stretchy ancient ice cream

samyoukilis

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It was this video carousel, created by one of my favorite artists, Sam Youkilis, that reminded me of my curiosity. In the videos, Sam’s stationary hand gets teased and tormented by cones of super-sticky ice cream. The cone dances around, spinning and flying through the air on a stick or a cone, solely adhered to both by the ice cream itself. When it finally settles into his hand in each clip, I take a look—the ice cream has a look most similar to gelato—it’s rich and dense. These videos feature “dondurma”, the Turkish version of “booza”—a stretchy ice cream that is popular in the Middle East. This sent me down a rabbit hole, searching for more and more images and videos of this treat—watching as people pulled spoons off of scoops revealing a consistency most similar to melty cheese.

My grandparents on my father’s side are from Istanbul. My grandmother Becky and grandfather Momo, got married as teenagers and moved to Israel to start a new life together in 1948. Growing up I didn’t hear much about my Turkish heritage, the only remnants lay in the evil eyes my grandmother was sure to always have around our necks and in our homes, and in some of the dishes that made it to our tables. My grandparents would also speak in Ladino to one another—an ancient language of the Spanish Jews. I hold the story of the Sephardic Jews in my bloodline—we are the Jews who dwelled in Spain who were ousted during the Spanish Inquisition, who resettled in Turkey before my grandparents continued the story of our migration to Israel. There were a few weddings and visits to Istanbul throughout my childhood that I did not get to join. As I grow older, my curiosity for this part of my heritage grows.

Booza is a combination of cream, mastic resin (a tree sap indigenous to Greece), sahlep (a flour made from the root of orchid flowers), and rose water. Booza may have been the first iteration of ice cream to ever have been made—the first record of this dessert was 500 years ago in the Eastern Levant.

A few weeks ago, booza landed once again, in my Instagram feed. An account by the name of Boulos_Booza was selling pints right here in DC and I knew my time had finally come to try it. It’s not the same as retracing my family’s story in Istanbul and stopping for a dondurma treat in the market, but for now, this will do. Founded in 2022, Paul Gadalla began making this artisanal Mediterranean ice cream, and personally sells it, pint-by-pint. He started to make this ice cream as a tribute to his Alexandrian heritage along with his years spent living in Beirut. Paul sources his hard-to-find ingredients from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. I met Paul a few Sundays ago at a designated meeting point—the Cleveland Park metro station—to be exact. I venmoed him on the spot and he handed me a pint of the sahlep flavored booza. He instructed me to wait a few minutes after taking it from the freezer before enjoying, since booza is at its best when it has had a few minutes to warm up—giving it its signature stretch.

I did not wait long enough for it to soften to the stretchy consistency…but I could see the sticky texture that differentiates it even at this stage. The texture was fluffier than regular ice cream—certainly not as dense as gelato.

The flavor of the booza is super unique. This sahlep flavor had a sweet creamy top note, and rose petals, orange blossom and the unique taste of orchid flowers at the end. And after trying Boulos, I’m so curious to try more flavors of this Middle Eastern treat.

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