The interesting story of the Höşmerim dessert...
Höşmerim, or Hoşmerim, is a type of semolina halva produced primarily in the Marmara, Aegean, and Central Anatolia regions. In some provinces, flour is used instead of semolina, and this flour halva is also referred to as höşmerim.
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The Höşmerim dessert is primarily made in our country in Balıkesir, Bursa, Çanakkale, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli, and İzmit.
Evliya Çelebi recounts in his 'Seyahatname' (Book of Travels) that this dessert was also seen among the first Turkish nomads who settled in Balıkesir, and that it spread to Havran from there.
It is also known as cheese halva or cheese dessert. It is derived from the Persian words "hoş" (sweet) and "maram" (cream).
THE STORY OF THE HÖŞMERİM DESSERT
In the Turkish family structure during the Ottoman period, married women would address their husbands as 'Er' or 'Erim' (my husband).
According to legend, a bride who sent her husband to the front upon the outbreak of war waited many years for his return. As a long time passed and her husband did not return, the bride lost all hope and began to think that he had fallen as a martyr.
However, even after many years, her husband returned. When the bride suddenly saw her life partner, whom she loved more than life itself, standing before her, she was overjoyed and decided to prepare a meal.
But due to poverty, she could not find much in the kitchen. While wondering what to make, her eyes caught the cheese she had curdled from the milk of their only cow and hung on the wall.
'IS IT PLEASANT, MY HUSBAND?'
She added eggs, sugar, and semolina to the fresh cheese and cooked it over the fire. She served this delicacy, which she had made for the first time, to her husband and asked him curiously, "Hoş mu erim? Hoş mu erim?" (Is it pleasant, my husband? Is it pleasant, my husband?). Her life partner, satisfied, appreciated the bride by saying "Hoş, hoş" (Pleasant, pleasant).
The dessert, which began to be made first in the Balıkesir region and then throughout the entire country as its story was passed from ear to ear, took the name "Höşmerim" because of this story.