Monday-ish words: salep, saloop

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

salep (săl′əp), noun
A starchy meal ground from the dried roots of some orchids (mainly from the genus Orchis).
Sometimes spelled 'sahlep', 'sahlab', or 'salaab'.

Etymology:  Turkish, from the orchid from which it is traditionally made.  Whose name supposedly comes from Arabic (ḫuṣā al)-ṯa'lab, (testicles of the) fox, due to the appearance of the tubers.

I learned of salep in the Taste of Persia cookbook I recently purchased.
According to multiple sites, it is illegal to export true salep, because of a decline in the populations of wild orchids.

saloop (sə-lo͞op′) noun
A hot drink made from salep (originally, and sassafras later) and other ingredients, and formerly used as a tonic.
This drink is sometimes called 'salep'...I think that might be the original term, with 'saloop' being a British variation.

Etymology:  an alteration of 'salep', dating from the 1700s.

According to Wikipedia, saloop was popular until it began to be purported as a remedy for venereal disease, and "drinking it in public became shameful".

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

The sassafras version would be illegal to buy: known carcinogen, which is why you can't get real root beer anymore.

(You can make it yourself, of course, if you have sassafras trees.) (I miss real sassafras. It doesn't grow here.)

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Great, now I'm going to have to go check out fox testicles to make the comparison.