Balik Kraker - Product of Turkey

I guess children the world over, enjoy little fish shaped crackers. My kids love "fish crackers" - but I'd say they could be any shape and they'd enjoy them, as long as they were cheese-ful.

What I thought was especially fun about these little fish crackers is that they did not have the typical smooth body of the cheese-ful fish crackers we have around these parts, but rather the fish have textured bodies due to the raised design of scales and a little eye and mouth.

Might give you a bit of a pause to pop this more realistic fish into your mouth - especially since he is smiling...

The package says "savoury cracker"...I must admit there wasn't much savoury-ness in it. It tasted a little more buttery than a typical soda cracker but that was about it.

Nonetheless the three of us enjoyed the crackers.

Koska - Traditional Floss Halva ...Turkey

Halva is a type of sweet confection found in the Middle East. Most of the confections are quite dense and are sweetened with sugar or honey.

From Wikipedia...."Floss halva is a traditional sweetmeat, prepared in Turkey, made by flossing thin strands of halva into a light confection. Made primarily of wheat flour and sugar, the strands are continuously wrapped into a ball shape and then compressed. The result is a halva with a light consistency, similar to cotton candy."

This box of floss halva contains 12 little "bundles" of compressed floss and cost approx. $3. The texture is very similar to typical floss except it does not melt as easily in your mouth. Whereas it seems candy floss melts as soon as it comes into contact with your mouth, the halva takes a bit more moisture to dissolve and feels heavier. Halva also seems to have thicker strands that remind you of wig hair or yarn.

The little bundles have what appears to be crushed up nuts sprinkled on top.

I thought the flavor was good - sweet and nutty. My daughter did not like it almost instantly. Barely a taste in her mouth and she says "tastes chocolatey and nutty". The boy said "The same. Give me more". So the boy loved it and would have eaten as much as I gave him, and the girl would barely take a bite.

The ingredients are: wheat flour, sugar, vegetable fat, nature-identical aroma (vanillin), acidity regulator (citric acid).

Bulgur - Turkey

Bulgur has always made me a little uncomfortable. I remember reading about it yrs ago in an old pamphlet on grains and for some reason it just sounded like something I didn't want to eat. It must be the name - b/c why else should it be a problem. Bulgur sounds like vulgar - maybe it's just a negative word association??

Bulgur is a traditional Middle East form of whole wheat. It is pulverized from whole-wheat kernels that have been boiled, drained, dried, cracked, and sifted. It has more fiber and protein, but less calories, than barley or brown rice. One cup of bulgur has 151 calories but 8.2 g of fiber and 5.6 g of protein.

Bulgur can be served hot or cold.

Bulgur tastes and looks very much like couscous. It has a mild flavor, similar to rice. I cooked it in some chicken broth so that of course gave it some more flavor.

We all liked it and now that I know how nutritious it is - I will be using it more. I'd like to try making a dessert similar to rice pudding with it.

The only problem is it is messy. The little grains are a bit sticky and if you have children especially - the bulgur can get all over the place. You have to really wait until it dries before cleaning it up or sweeping.