Search the Community

Pomegranate syrup is the name given to it, but actually it is not a syrup in the real sense, as there is no sugar added to it.. It is simply pomegranate juice, boiled for hours, until it becomes a thick liquid, and caramelized to some degree.. Unlike the syrups on the market with different labels, giving the impression that they are the pomegaranate syrup, the real pomegaranate syrup, as it is understood in the local tradition, has no additive whatsoever..and if you have tasted the original one, like me, you wouldn’t buy them. If you still buy them, read the ingredients: there must be written one single word: pomegranate, not this or that acid (assuming that the additives are written). Too much fruit and too much labour: this is another definition of pomegranate syrup.. But let me write the original name: ‘nar ekşisi’. Ekşi means sour but any sour liquid obtained from fruits to be used in the kitchen can be called so. Actually, if it is not obtained from sour pomegranates, the liquid is not supposed to be sour.. Maybe something in between a sour taste and a sweet taste.. Because of that sweet taste, it is also called ‘nar pekmezi’. Pekmez, I guess you know, is the name given to a thick and very sweet liquid obtained from fruits but mostly from grapes, by boiling. Yes, too much labour.. Once I worked with the rural women in production of it.. We sat around a small pool , cut the fruits into two, and by hitting them with sticks, we let the arils fall down. Then with a new and clean pair of plastic boots, somebody walked on the arils, to obtain the juice. Later, the juice was filtered and boiled for hours.. But this quantity was for the consumption of a large family and a larger group of visiting relatives.. What about a humble bottle to make your salads very special? Yes you can do that! Your only limit is gas bills, as you don’t have any wood fire in your garden unlike the lucky rural women! Actually there are many dishes which nar ekşisi makes special, but even for salads only it worths trying. If you ever set to work on that, cut as many fruits as you think you have patience with, take the arils out, obtain the juice and filter it: there must remain no seeds , as the seeds change the taste and make it bitter, like the white skin enveloping the arils. Then put the juice on heat, take your favorite journals or turn on the TV program you like and..ooops! too much boiling will make it a caramel!!