For those of us used to supermarkets stocked with food forced out of season, or to fruit picked early that ripens during a long road or sea journey before it reaches the shelves, the quality and succulence of Turkish fruit comes as a surprise and a change.The year starts with the winter citrus fruits: juicy oranges and lemons and grapefruits. In late spring we find cherries are in season, followed closely by strawberries. In July there are fresh apples and the hard green plums that the Turks eat with salt, and then the glories of August include peaches and bananas.
These last few weeks in September are the grape harvest. Vineyard workers are laboring around the clock to pick their crop while it is at its very best. Watermelons are also plentiful at the moment. You will often see a truck parked by the roadside with a wide range of melons for sale. Many Turks take these beautifully thirst-quenching watermelons on a picnic with them, putting the huge ball of fruit in a river or stream to cool it down to the perfect temperature, before cutting it open with a massive knife.
I grew up with watermelons in Texas, but for those from more northerly climes, melons are an expensive treat. I often wonder what a shock it must be to Turks who go to a British supermarket and find that a melon is sold by the slice, and that a single slice of watermelon there costs more than two whole melons do in Turkey!
Also in season at the moment are fresh figs. An English friend of mine tells me that she had never seen fresh figs before she came to Turkey -- the only figs really available in England are dried ones, often eaten at Christmas time. Nearly all the figs available in England come from the İzmir region.
It will not be long before the weather turns cold and the fall fruits and vegetables begin to appear. Squash, of course, reminds me as an American of pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving, although the Turks cook pumpkin in a very different way. It is boiled, and then served in whole chunks, in a sticky syrup with chopped walnuts sprinkled over it. This is called “kabak tatlısı.” Ayva tatlısı is similar, but made from quince -- a fruit that I had never really had before coming to Turkey.
Another reminder I had of Thanksgiving this week was to see a jar of cranberry sauce on the shelves at my local supermarket. Imported from Europe, it was probably more expensive than the cost of the whole turkey it was supposed to dress. It made me think how the soft fruits -- berries and currants -- that are so prevalent in colder climates this time of year are missing in Turkey.
In the US we have so many types of berries: cranberries, blueberries, blackberries and red currants, greengages, gooseberries, etc. Most of them grow in woodlands in the fall. When the English poet John Keats wrote an ode to autumn he described it as follows:
“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”
This week driving back to İstanbul from Tekirdağ in the early morning, I was reminded of Keats as I drove through the first mists of the season, floating in off the sea. Berries are a mellow fruitfulness; blackberries abound in the woods at Termal near Yalova -- the only place in Turkey where I have seen them sold. The only other berries I have found at this time of year are the black and white mulberries that grow on trees.
Keats describes how the fall conspires with the sun “to load and bless … and fill all fruit with ripeness to the core … to swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells.” Gourds and hazelnuts abound in Turkey. In fact Turkey is by far the world's largest producer of hazelnuts. Over the last 10 years, an average of 600,000 tons of hazelnuts (in shell) have been grown and harvested for national and international consumption. Hazelnuts from Ordu are matched in quality by walnuts from Bolu and pistachios from Gaziantep.
Enjoy the sights and tastes of Turkey this season!
Note: Charlotte McPherson is the author of “Culture Smart: Turkey, 2005.” Please keep your questions and observations coming: I want to ensure this column is a help to you, Today’s Zaman’s readers. Email: c.mcpherson@todayszaman.com
