Cypriots claim world record for Turkish delight

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041018/80/f4se2.html


NICOSIA (Reuters) - Greeks are trying to beat Turks at their own game in Cyprus, claiming a world record for the biggest slab of Turkish delight, a mouth-watering sweet prized locally as an aphrodisiac.


Greek Cypriot George Gavriel and 30 other cooks toiled for three days to produce the Turkish delight weighing two tonnes and 543 kilos (5,606 lbs), known in the local dialect as "Loukkoumi".


The previous record set in 1997 was two tonnes and 349 kilos (5,180 lbs 9 oz), according to the Guinness Book of Records.


"It is made of very pure ingredients and it does invigorate people. It tones you up. And according to our fathers and grandfathers it is very good for sex," said Tasos Kouzoupos, mayor of Yeroskippou, the northwestern town in ethnically divided Cyprus where the delicacy has traditionally been made.


The giant sweet was presented and eaten at a fete on Sunday.


Turkish delight, a sugar-based soft rubbery sweet mixed with nuts, has been made for centuries in Cyprus, which was ruled by the Ottomans from 1571 to 1878.