Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Saloop or Salop. — The preparation known under this name consists chiefly of starch. It is obtained from the roots of the common male orchis {Orchis inascula). When boiled it constitutes an agreeable article of diet, and was commonly used in this country before the introduction of tea and coffee. Sassafras chips were frequently introduced into the decoction for the purpose of giving it a flavour. The roots of the Orchis maculata also yield an inferior sort of salep. Although now almost entirely in disuse in this country, it is still employed in Turkey and the East. The salep imported from India is in white oval pieces, hard, clear, and pellucid, without smell, and tastinglike tragacanth. It is a light, bland, and nutritious article of diet. Salep is more nutritive than either arrowroot or sago, and consequently is better adapted for the convalescent than the sick. Saloop Soup (Invalid Cookery). — The following German recipe is given in the "Handbook of Foreign Cookery" of Amelia von Kochheim: — "Into a quart of good beef bouillon stir a table-spoonful of salep mixed in a little cold water ; set it on the fire, and let it boil till it begins to thicken. It may be made also with wine or -water instead of broth, in which case sugar, lemon, or sweetmeat may be stirred in. This soup is not only nourishing for weak persons, but is particularly recommended for children. A tea-spoonful of salej) mixed in a little water, and a cupful of boiling milk or broth poured over it, should be given to a child daily when first weaned: it will be found to strengthen it greatly." Saloop, To Prepare.— Take a dessertspoonful of the powder of saloop, and add it to a pint of boiling water. Keep stirring tiU the preparation becomes of the consistence of jelly, then add white wine and Sugar to taste. Saloop, To Prepare (another way).— The preparation of saloop has been described in the " Philosophical Transactions " of the Royal Society. A Mr. Moult, making a communication to that Royal Society, says: "I send you my method of curing the common orchis root of our own country so as perfectly to resemble what comes to us from Turkey. The best time to gather the roots is when the seed is forming, and the stalk going to fall; for then the new bulb, of which the salep is made, is arrived to its full size, and may be known from the old one, whose strength is then spent by the preceding- germination, by a white bud rising from the top of it, which is the germ of the plant of the succeeding year. This new root, being sepai-ated from the stalk. SAL ( 816 ) SAL