Sahlab

Salep 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 places that were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. An increase in consumption is causing local extinctions of orchids in parts of Turkey and Iran.

Salep is a traditional winter beverage in Turkey. It is sometimes served with iced coffee at certain coffee shops in Istanbul.

The word Salep comes from Arabic: سَحْلَب‎‎ (saḥlab). In the mid 18th century: from French, from Turkish sālep, from Arabic: ثَعْلَب‎, translit. ﭐلثَعْلَب‎ (aṯ-ṯaʿlabi), the name of an orchid (literally ‘fox's testicles’).

The Ancient Romans used ground orchid bulbs to make drinks, which they called by a number of names, especially satyrion and priapiscus. As the names indicate, they likewise considered it to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Of salep, Paracelsus wrote: "behold the Satyrion root, is it not formed like the male privy parts? No one can deny this. Accordingly, magic discovered it and revealed that it can restore a man's virility and passion".

Salep was a popular beverage in the lands of the Ottoman Empire. Its consumption spread beyond there to England and Germany before the rise of coffee and tea and it was later offered as an alternative beverage in coffee houses. In England, the drink was known as saloop. Popular in the 17th and 18th centuries in England, its preparation required that the salep powder be added to water until thickened whereupon it would be sweetened, then flavored with orange flower or rose water. Substitution of British orchid roots, known as "dogstones", was acceptable in the 18th century for the original Turkish variants.

...
Wikipedia