Salepi is a plant. The root (tuber), which is pulverized and added to water, is used as a medicine. The common name salepi refers both to the flour obtained from the dry tubers of several species of the Orchid family and to the name of the plant itself which in the botanical world is referred to as Orchis mascula.



salepi is used mainly in the East but also in Greece as a winter warming, emollient and nutritious drink. The tubers are first soaked in boiling water to remove the essential oil they contain, which, if left, gives the salepi a bitter and unpleasant taste.



They are then dried and ground. A decoction of the powder is prepared, which is sweetened with sugar or honey and flavored with cinnamon or ginger, which is also powder from the root of the Zingiber official plant. Salepi can be one of three allowed flavor options for making ice cream.