We are going to be at Kirkcaldie and Stains this Tuesday evening (December 2nd) from 6.00 to 9.30 for a Christmas Charity Shopping night supporting the Wellington Zoo animal hospital 'The Nest'. We'll be offering tastings of Turkish Delight at the door. Entry cost is NZ$5.00 that will be donated by Kirkaldies to this worthy cause.
As our range of Delights ever expands, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to revamp our site. As well as all our flavours, you can find a stockist and delve into Loukoumi via this News Blog. We've backdated a few entries so you can look at how our business got to today. We hope you enjoy it, Ross and Trish McKenzie.
We will have a stall at Thordon Fair on Sunday 7 December 2008. Address is Tinakori Road and Hill Street, Wellington, NZ.
We have a stall at The Farmers' Market at Moore Wilsons in Kenepuru (Porirua). We are there most Saturdays from 8am to 1pm. This Farmers Market gives you a unique opportunity to buy directly from local producers including artisan bread, vegetables, cheeses, deli food and of course Loukoumi. If you would like to be kept up to date with where and when we have stalls you can subscribe to this News Blog by clicking here. We hope to see you soon.
Our products are based on an original recipe brought to New Zealand by a Romanian migrant family fleeing Communist persecution in Europe. The father was given it by a confectioner friend who said that it might be something to fall back on in his new life. This secret recipe was handed down to family members and when we bought Loukoumi we inherited the knowledge.
As part of our research into recipes and cooking techniques we packed our suitcases and headed for Turkey. We spent several days exploring Istanbul trying to hunt out the perfect Turkish Delight and see how ours stood up. We were really disappointed to find most of what was on offer was mass produced, bland and stuffed with artificial ingredients. Despite the lack of true artisans we talked with as many people as we could and let them taste some samples. To our delight, we discovered that the taste and texture of our Loukoumi evoked childhood memories of 'how it used to be'. A fascinating place to visit and explore.
Hello, we are Ross and Trish McKenzie and we the owners of Loukoumi. We bought the business in July 2003, it was an impulse thing really, we were looking for a new challenge, and it we haven't been disappointed! The company Loukoumi was started in 1970 by the Palamidas family. Rather than the normal seven year apprenticeship we had to learn the whole process in 3 months. Nadia Palamidas' children Nick and Christina were our guides, teaching us the essential cooking and cutting techniques.