Cappadocian Travelogue: Vineyard

Hassan Bey, who owns and runs our cave hotel, offered to take us to his family's vineyard. His sister and her husband were working the vineyard that day. Most village women prefer to not have their photo taken, so I do not have one of her.

We enjoyed seeing first hand how the family tends their vineyard. Because they are conservative in their beliefs, they do not use it to make wine. Instead, the press it and let it ferment only slightly, then make pekmez, which is like our molasses. They sometimes mix it with tahini (a spread made from sesame seeds), then spread both on bread. It gives a salty and sweet flavor together. I use pekmez to make white sugar into brown sugar. Brown sugar is either unavailable or expensive here. Making my own is easy with pekmez.

He showed us how he severely cuts back the new growth on his plants. This causes it to grow stronger and bigger and produce sweeter, bigger grapes.