salep

Salep, also spelled sahlep, salepi or sahlab, is a flour made from the tubers of the orchid genus Orchis (including species Orchis mascula and Orchis militaris). These tubers contain a nutritious, starchy polysaccharide called glucomannan. Salep flour is consumed in beverages and desserts, especially in the cuisines of the former Byzantines and Ottoman, notably in the Levant where it is a traditional winter beverage. An increase in consumption is causing local extinctions of orchids in parts of Greece, Turkey, and Iran.

==Etymology== The word salep ultimately comes from Arabic (), and Greek salepi σαλέπι through French and Turkish in the mid 18th century. The Arabic word is perhaps shortened from (). The spellings صحلب and سحلب found in modern Arabic dictionaries are borrowed from Turkish.