Hadji Bey’s Turkish Delight

Memories of childhood Christmases at Barmeath include special things only eaten then. A butcher in Drogheda, Kierans, made spiced beef (aka Red Round), crystallised fruits came from Dublin and Turkish Delight called Hadji Bey was made in Cork.

I was mystified that Turkish Delight was made in Cork and now I know the story. A friend from Co Cork often brings me a present from his locality when he comes to London. Jameson whiskey and black pudding from Clonakilty are favourites. The sort of scoff that Leopold Bloom appreciates:

He halted before Dlugacz’s window, staring at the hanks of sausages,
polonies, black and white. Fifteen multiplied by. The figures whitened
in his mind, unsolved: displeased, he let them fade. The shiny links,
packed with forcemeat, fed his gaze and he breathed in tranquilly the
lukewarm breath of cooked spicy pigs’ blood. (Ulysses, James Joyce)

But this week he brought a box of Hadji Bey Turkish Delight. Harutun Batmazian was an Armenian Christian studying law in Constantinople with part-time employment in a confectioner’s specialising in Turkish Delight. The Turks started executing Armenian Christians and he was obliged to flee to Cork in 1902. He started making Turkish Delight and selling it from this exotic shop in MacCurtain Street.

His son Edward, born in 1906, continued the business until the 1970s. Now the brand has been revived by new owners UHC Confectionery and it is made in Newbridge, Co Kildare. They have retained the original packaging and the Batmazian family high standards. They also include in every box an article by Michael Kenyon from The Guardian, published in 1964, which is where I found out about the history of Cork Delight.