Liaison dangereuse en Turquie

So someone went on vacation.  But where?  It was assumed that the destination was probably New Jersey but no, that was not the case.  Our intrepid vacationer in fact met up with a former colleague in his homeland - the somewhat exotic country of Turkey.  I say somewhat because it is fairly developed which tends to make a place less exotic.  But it is certainly an interesting place to say the least.  Our tight lipped colleague did finally spill the beans. Of course, we knew something was up when we saw what she offered up at cake time!

From Turkey with love, er, danger!

Now we have had many treats brought to us from Turkey and we generally expect to find the typical Turkish delights.  Look back and you will find some posts to that effect.  But these treats were a little different  The translation of the name - Bol Antep Fistikli -  is something like abundant pistachios and Kokolin Kapli Krokan is chocolate covered krokant. The brand Bolçi is supposed to be the unique taste of the Bolu province and the byline for the candy is, "A delicious breeze from Bolu mountains..." A delicious breeze? Apparently the brand was established to identify with the province. You can read the story and follow the advice, "Discover the unique taste of Bolçi and sweeten your life..."  Nice sentiment.

Plenty of pistachio in chocolate covered krokant. 

The strategy to brand the Bolu province.

The 50% refers to the fact that over 50% is pistachios.  That did seem to be the case! These were basically crunchy pistachio toffees coated with milk, white or dark chocolate.  They were very good and nothing against the agar based Turkish delights but these were a different sort of treat and we were happy to try them.

Milke chocolate covered with 50% pistachios!

...and there is white chocolate...

...and dark!  Is there 50% pistachios?

You note that the title of this refers to a dangerous liaison. Although the the current and the ex-colleague were hooking up surreptitiously in a foreign country we were assured that everything was platonic. So it was not a liaison amoureuse which might have been a bit more interesting.  There was some skepticism when the description "so cute" was expressed but we'll leave well enough alone.  Traveling on your own to a foreign country to meet someone does have its dangers so we will settle for the title we chose.

It's probably standard Turkish Delights!

Our graduate colleague also sent us a little gift which we held off eating because the Bol Antep Fistikli was sufficient for the day. We suspect when we open the box from him it'll be back to Turkish Delights!