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Gümüşhane Mulberry Pestil and Köme

When people say Gümüşhane, they usually think of silver mines, steep valleys and high passes. Yet the city's culinary memory holds something just as bright: mulberry pestil.

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Gümüşhane Mulberry Pestil and Köme

When people say Gümüşhane, they usually think of silver mines, steep valleys and high passes. Yet the city's culinary memory holds something just as bright: mulberry pestil. This article draws on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Culture Portal and on the TÜRKPATENT geographical indication record to explain how pestil is made, why it is registered under the name of Gümüşhane, and how a visitor can recognise and appreciate it. We are not trying to write an encyclopedia entry. We want to bring you a few steps closer to the kitchen, the market stall and the winter table.

A confectionery tradition among the mountains

Gümüşhane lies on the historic road that links Trabzon with Iran and Azerbaijan. According to the provincial history on the Culture Portal, this road crosses the Zigana Mountains, reaches the Harşit Valley and continues toward Bayburt and Erzurum. A community living along such a route naturally needs foods that last through long winters, travel easily and keep for a long time. Pestil is one of the products that fit this need: it is made from fruit juice, flour and nuts, dried in the sun, folded and stored. What we do know is that today the product appears in official records under the name of the city.

The Traditional Cuisine section of the Culture Portal lists this sweet under the title Pestil and Köme, among the desserts. The page describes the order of preparation in detail, but it gives no separate definition of köme. For that reason this article concentrates on pestil making, which the official source describes clearly. Even so, the fact that the two names appear on the same page shows that both are regarded as parts of the same food culture.

A journey that begins with mulberries and must

According to the Culture Portal description, the work begins by boiling the mulberries in a large cauldron. The pulp is then strained off and the liquid is set aside; this liquid is called şıra, or must. Meanwhile walnuts are cracked and shelled, and either a coarse crushed mixture is prepared or the kernels are chopped small with a knife. Hazelnut kernels may be used instead of walnuts. This small detail matters, because the identity of Gümüşhane pestil comes from the generous amount of oily nuts alongside the sweet mulberry must.

The geographical indication page on the Culture Portal, which accompanies the TÜRKPATENT record, adds a warning at the start of the process. Because production uses dried mulberries, they must be washed. The washed mulberries are boiled in a cauldron and then the must is strained. Part of the strained must is set aside to be whisked with flour, and the rest goes into the herle cauldron, where it is heated with honey. Once it starts to boil, the reserved must, the milk and the whisked flour are poured into the cauldron. After cooking for a while, this mixture is called herle; in other words, it is the thick, not yet spread dough of the pestil.

There are small differences between the accounts. The ministry's cuisine page says that milk or honey is added to the mixture, while the geographical indication definition says that both honey and milk are used. Here we take the official geographical indication definition as our basis, while remembering that small differences from household to household are possible in any regional kitchen. What both sources share is that the mixture must be stirred constantly so that it does not stick to the bottom, and that stirring continues until it reaches a certain consistency.

Drying on cloth

The most visual stage of pestil making is spreading and drying. According to the cuisine page, the prepared herle is poured onto cloths laid on a flat area that gets plenty of sun. Walnut or hazelnut kernels are added and the mixture is spread thinly with a boxwood tool or a hand sieve. This continues until the herle is finished. The geographical indication description, on the other hand, says the cloths are laid out on grates and that drying is done in a hygienic environment. So the basic logic of the traditional method is preserved, but the registered definition of the product also stresses hygiene.

Once the spreading is done, the pestil is left to dry. According to the ministry page, the pestil that has dried on the cloth is pulled away a day later. To do this, the cloth is turned over and laid on a clean cloth, the side that does not carry the pestil is dampened with water, and the cloth is turned again. Because the cloth is wet, the pestil and the cloth separate easily by hand. The separated pestil is left in a sunny place to dry a little more. It is collected and folded while it is still crisp. The geographical indication page follows the same order: when drying is complete the cloth is turned over, the plain side is dampened, the pestil is peeled from the cloth, folded and packaged.

The word crisp is a good yardstick to keep in mind when you look at pestil, because the stage at which pestil is collected during production determines the texture of the product. Folded pestil is kept in tin containers so that it can be offered during neighbourly conversations in the long winter months and given as a gift. That sentence from the Culture Portal is a reminder that pestil is not only a food but also a tradition of hospitality and gift giving.

What the geographical indication tells us

According to the TÜRKPATENT Geographical Indications Portal, Gümüşhane Dut Pestili is an indication of source. Its file number is C2004/002, the application date is 23.01.2004, the registration number is 63 and the registration date is 27.12.2004. The product group is listed as chocolate, confectionery and derived products. The applicant and registrant is the Gümüşhane Special Provincial Administration. The record shows the status as registered.

An indication of source is a type of registration that protects the link between a product's name and a particular region. In practice this means that the name Gümüşhane is not a casual label for this product but points to a product with a written definition. The product description on the Culture Portal makes this concrete. According to it, Gümüşhane pestil has a shinier, softer structure than pestils produced in other regions. Unlike those, honey and milk are added to its contents, and much more walnut and hazelnut kernel is used.

The definition even gives a numerical measure. To obtain 100 kilograms of Gümüşhane pestil, at least 20 kilograms of honey, at least 15 kilograms of milk and at least 20 kilograms of walnut or hazelnut kernels are used. It is noted that the milk and the mulberries come from this region, and that the mulberries grown in the region's rich flora and the skill of the pestil masters matter for quality. The form of use is given as branding. These details can be read like a tasting guide: shine, softness and plenty of nuts are the three signs to look for.

At the market stall and on the table

As a visitor, a few practical suggestions help when you approach pestil. First, use the definition above as a yardstick: the pestil should look shiny and soft, with a noticeable amount of walnut or hazelnut inside. When buying packaged products, read the ingredient information; honey, milk, flour, mulberry and nuts are the main ingredients of the traditional recipe. Asking about the producer and about the use of the geographical indication can also be a pleasant part of the conversation with the seller.

Second, think of pestil in its traditional context. The source says it is stored in tins to be offered and given as gifts in the winter months. So pestil is as much a treat set beside conversation as a snack eaten in a hurry. If you want to bring a gift home from your trip, a folded and properly packaged piece of pestil suits this tradition. For storage, follow the information on the package; the sources give no figures or durations, so we give none either.

Third, do not rush when buying. Knowing that pestil is prepared not in a single day but through consecutive stages such as spreading, drying, dampening and peeling, and folding changes the way you look at the product on the stall. Asking the producer which ingredients they use is a polite way of recognising this labour.

Adding pestil to a Gümüşhane trip

Pestil makes even more sense when thought of together with the historical layers of Gümüşhane. The Culture Portal writes that the first Gümüşhane was founded at a place known as Canca, to the northwest of today's city, and that the silver deposits were also located there. In the Byzantine period the city was given the name Argyropolis, meaning silver city. It is not surprising that in such a city, alongside mining, a culture of mountain and valley agriculture, drying and storing also developed. Pestil is a sweet and portable reflection of that culture.

On a one day city trip, while walking around the old city fabric and the nature stops nearby, tasting pestil during an afternoon refreshment break is a sensible plan. That it is light and can be folded and carried makes it easy to put in a bag on walking days. Our main advice is this: see pestil not as something to nibble on the go but as the product of a regional labour. Washing and boiling the mulberries, straining the must, stirring the herle, spreading it on cloths and peeling it off after dampening the next day is a job that takes hours and days.

Final word

In official records Gümüşhane mulberry pestil appears both as a traditional sweet and as a registered regional product. The Culture Portal describes it as a winter preparation offered in neighbourly conversations, while TÜRKPATENT has recorded its name, registration date and distinguishing features. When you combine these two views, the pestil in your hand looks not just like a confection but like the memory of a mountain city built around honey, milk, mulberries and walnuts. Before your visit, check up to date information about places of production and sale with the provincial directorate of culture and tourism.

Sources

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