After a second Ramadan that has felt anything but "normal," many want to celebrate the end of the holy fasting month, as socially distanced as it might be.

When we first settled in Turkey I loved how the kids, myself included, would roam the neighborhood ringing bells and wishing Eid Mubarak to everyone on the streets. As kids, we would be handed candy and then sent off. Naturally, I first heard that Ramadan Bayram, or Eid Al-Fitr as it is more widely known in the Islamic world, was also called "Şeker Bayramı" literally meaning "Sugar Feast" in Turkish. My father frowned upon it and mumbled under his breath that it diminishes the meaning of Ramadan and little old me swallowed that up. But reading into Turkey’s culinary history has enlightened me and contrary to the belief, this is not a recent trend, it actually stems from the 18th century. Sweets played a very prominent part in the celebration and families would send trays of confections, pastries and fruits to their friends and neighbors. Apparently, the only thing that changed over time is that instead of sending candies out to people, people prefer serving them at home to their guests.

Seeing as we are still in a COVID-19 lockdown, here is a fun and sweet activity: make your own little candies and leave them at the doors of your loved ones and neighbors.

Mesir macunu

Sometimes just called "macun," this is a traditional Turkish candy that is usually wrapped around a stick and then eaten like a softish lollypop. The western province of Manisa is famous for it. Street vendors would, especially in Ramadan, serve up this sweet and spicy treat after breaking their fast and you could choose from different flavors – I personally love tangy lemon. While it's purely considered a candy nowadays, in the Ottoman era it was used for medicinal purposes. With all the healthy and anti-inflammatory ingredients in it, like ginger, allspice and turmeric, the original "mesir macunu" was almost pure spice but with time it was sweetened to make it more "interesting." Mary Poppins had it right with "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" in that regard. The recipe below is not quite what the street vendors sell but rather a more healthy version, sometimes called "kış macunu," meaning winter paste in Turkish.