Thursday, August 30, 2012

The foodie in me hunted down this mysterious, bottled purple liquid shortly after we walked through Bademli Köyü.

Village men, set up with rickety tables and shady umbrellas, were selling this drink in several locations. We stumbled upon a tea house that had a large sign advertising "Koruk Şurubu," a producer and seller of this interesting Turkish grape juice.

Our Turkish friend, Murat, asked the guy what the drink was, and I wanted to know how it was made.

Soon, we found ourselves on an impromptu tour of the production facilities for Koruk Şerbeti, a locally produced grape drink.

Our guide told us, translated through Murat, that the villagers harvest the wild grapes called Vitis orientalis, which grows wild in front of nearly every house we saw. The vines produces the highly acidic fruit known as koruk. Inedible raw, the wild grapes are turned into a thirst-quenching summer drink called Koruk Şerbeti, grape sherbet.

The grapes are pressed in these stainless steel vats, similar to wine making, and then cooked with sugar. The liquid is cooled down and then bottled in this small, super-clean facility in the village.
How to make Koruk Şerbeti, grape sherbet, in Turkey.

In Turkey, refreshing sherbets are made from all kinds of fruit such as blackberries, lemons, mandalina and even honey and roses. The drink is usually served at the end of a meal.

I was sold on the drink, but we wanted to taste it too. The guy made us a glass of grape sherbet by mixing about 1/3 grape concentrate with 2/3 very cold water, and then shook the mixture together like you would a cocktail.

Koruk Şerbeti tastes like fresh, cold grape juice. We each bought a bottle.

I'm thinking the Koruk Şerbeti might even make a refreshing summer cocktail!

Bademli Köyü truly is a gem of place to stop at when you are along the Aegean Coast in Turkey.
Wild grapes, called Vitis orientalis, like these grow everywhere in Bademli Köyü, Turkey. 

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3 comments:

BacktoBodrum said...

I'm imagining a shot of vodka, lots of ice and a few mint leaves with this syrup. Or a few drops added to white wine to make a Kir.

Joy said...

@BacktoBodrum, great ideas! Yes, I think a nice refreshing vodka-grape tonic drink should be in our near future. ;-)

Unknown said...

I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it and I have bookmarked you to check out new stuff you post. I'm a professional resume writers The vines produces the extraordinarily acidic fruit called koruk. Inedible raw, the wild grapes are changed into a thirst-quenching summer season drink referred to as Koruk Şerbeti, grape sherbet. The grapes are pressed in these stainless steel vats, similar to wine making, and then cooked with sugar. The liquid is cooled down and then bottled on this small, incredible-smooth facility inside the village.