A general view of Zeytun (currently Süleymanlı) (Source: Nubarian library collection)

Zeytun - Foods

Author: Sonia Tashjian, 16/5/12 (Last modified 16/5/12)- Translator: Ara Melkonian

The geographical position of Zeytun is mountainous and rocky, so naturally the climate in winter is very cold and the summer hot, with only the town’s climate being temperate. It is buried in snow for all of three months. As there are few fields, the harvest is small. But on those small cultivated fields grains used for bread are sown [1] – wheat, barley, millet, rye, peas and maize; additionally legumes – lentils, chickpeas, broad and ordinary beans are also grown as are various vegetables: marrows, cucumber, shingiyor (a kind of striped cucumber, otherwise known as kheta, guta or adjur), [2] pepper, tomatoes, aubergines, beetroot, beet, carrots, cabbage, radishes, turnips, potatoes, onions, garlic, parsley, basil and mint. The cultivation of gardens is also considerably developed; thus fruit like several kinds of mulberry, cherries, peaches, apples, plums, pears, figs, quinces, pomegranates, walnuts, olives, as well as sugar melons and watermelons are also grown. Various kinds of grapes are plentiful, from which raisins, syrup and wine are made. Honey is also produced. Animal husbandry is also developed and the custom is to go with the animals to the mountainsides for several months.

Apart from shops, there is a market (bezor) in the middle of Zeytun town, comprising 60 shops selling different kinds of goods as well as groceries, fruit, vegetables and meat. [3] The presence of butchers helps to ensure that meals are prepared with fresh meat. Goats and occasionally sheep are slaughtered, while the cow, as a milk provider and the ox, as a beast of burden, never are. Mutton is even used for tehal-ghavurma; meat for patties is pounded on a special walnut block with a special heavy knife called a santur. [4] Minced meat is produced by skilfully using two knives at great speed.

There are two working bakeries in the market that, on ordinary and feast days bake bread using a mixture of chickpeas and wheat. [5] Houses have ovens (tonir) where the usual kinds of bread are baked, but the bread used on a daily basis is cooked over a sadj. This is a circular, flat metal plate, set on several stone feet, under which a fire is lit. Early in the morning the young wives prepare dough and, after it has risen, they roll it out on the sadj. After cooking one side of the bread, it is turned using a small shovel called evledjeg and the other side is done. After cooking, the breads are cooled and then stored by being piled up in a high place in a corner of the larder. When it is time to eat them, they are first wetted. [6]

As a result of all these circumstances, an interesting cuisine belonging to mountain people has been created, in which meat is predominant.

The Zeytun people’s favourite dish is keofte (köfte, patties, gololag). [7] Here are several versions.

Raw patties (hum or çiğ köfte)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) red meat
½ kg (1.1 lb) fine cracked wheat (bulgur)
1 onion
Basil and parsley
Spring onion
1 teaspoon each of cumin, red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Fresh, lean meat free of tendons etc is pounded. These days, an electric mixer is used to do this. Then the fine cracked wheat, chopped onion, basil, parsley and spices are mixed in. Wetting the hands occasionally, knead the mixture well, until it becomes one mass. Prepare, in the palm of the hand, pieces of the mixture like small cucumbers, such that the imprints of the fingers may be seen, and add more hot red pepper and chopped spring onion.

Round patties (keleor keofte)

Ingredients
The same ingredients as for raw patties (çiğ köfte)
2 litres (3.5 pints) meat broth

Preparation
Prepare the meat in the same way as described above. Then make pieces into balls the size of walnuts and cook in the broth, and serve.

Sour patties (ttu keofte)

Ingredients
The same ingredients as for raw patties (çiğ köfte)
2 onions
2 soup spoons oil (or 100 g, 3.5oz butter)
1 cup water
1 soup spoon sumach
1 soup spoon finely ground mint
Salt

Preparation
Prepare the meat in the same way as described above. Then make pieces into balls the size of walnuts. Then chop the onions, fry them until browned, add one cup of water and, after it has boiled, add the spices and cook the patties in it.

Filled patties (mecheov keofte)

Ingredients
To create the dough cases:
½ kg (1.1 lb) pounded meat
½ kg (1.1 lb) fine cracked wheat (bulgur)
2 soup spoons flour
1 soup spoon pepper paste
Red and black pepper
Cumin and salt
2 litres (3.5 pints) meat broth

For the filling:
½ kg (1.1 lb) ground meat
1 soup spoon oil (or 50g, 1.75 oz of butter)
2 onions
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
½ cup ground walnuts (if required)

Preparation
Prepare the filling: fry the onions and the ground meat, season, put aside to cool. Prepare the cases: mix the pounded meat, cracked wheat and spices into a dough. Pick up a palm-sized piece of the mixture and make it into a ball, then make a hollow in it and work it with the fingers such that it deepens. Fill this hollow with the filling, and then close it by bringing the open edges of the hollow together, making the whole patty spherical. Cook them in the meat broth until they rise to the surface.

Fast day patties (bahki keofte)

Ingredients
To create the dough cases:
1 cup lentils
2 cups fine cracked wheat (bulgur)
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

For the filling:
1 cup ground walnuts or terebinth (peveg) berries*
3 onions
¼ cup of olive oil
Parsley and basil
1 teaspoon each of cumin, red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Prepare the filling: chop the onions, then fry them until browned, add the walnuts or terebinth berries, the chopped parsley, basil and spices. Leave to cool.
Prepare the cases: Boil the lentils. Immediately add the cracked wheat, season, allow to cool, then knead into dough. Pick up a palm-sized piece of the mixture and make it into a ball, then make a hollow in it and work it with the fingers such that it deepens. Fill this hollow with the filling, and then close it by bringing the open edges of the hollow together, making the whole patty spherical. It may be served uncooked, boiled or fried, as preferred.

*Peveg berries are the fruits of the terebinth or turpentine tree that grows in the mountains. They are small, deep blue and have particular taste. They should be milled before use.

Soups are an important part of the cuisine of Zeytun; [8] they are simple and eaten on a daily basis, and are suitable for ordinary as well as fasting days.

Yogurt soup

Ingredients
I cup de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
1 litre (1.75 pints) yogurt
1 soup spoon powered mint
Salt

Preparation
Boil the wheat then, after cooling, add the yogurt, mint and salt. This is a summer dish.

Dagabur (soup)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) beet
½ kg (1.1 lb) beans
1 soup spoon sumach
3 cloves garlic
Salt

Preparation
Chop and boil the beet and beans, add the sumach. Boil for a further 10 minutes. Mix in the crushed garlic when serving.

Chiurmiur soup (for ordinary, not fast days)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) fatty meat
½ kg (1.1 lb) dried shingiyor (a kind of striped cucumber, otherwise known as kheta,
guta or adjur)
2 soup spoons tomato paste
1 soup spoon powdered mint
Salt

Preparation
Boil the meat, adding the previously soaked and parboiled vegetables, then the tomato paste and mint. Boil it for a further 10 minutes.

This same dish may also be prepared with cucumber or sugar melon, sometimes with all three. In summer it is made with fresh vegetables.

Chiurmiur soup (for fast days)

Ingredients
½ cup lentils
½ cup beans
½ cup de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
½ kg (1.1 lb) dried shingiyor (a kind of striped cucumber, otherwise known as kheta,
guta or adjur)
1 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the previously soaked cereals, add the shingiyor, then the ground walnuts and spices. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Oruz soup*

Ingredients
1 cup rice
4 cups water
½ cup vermicelli (shehron, shehriye)
2 soup spoons oil (or 100g, 3.5 oz butter)
Salt

Preparation
Boil the rice, then fry the vermicelli in oil and add it to the rice. Cover the saucepan and leave it to rest.

*This dish is not like pilav, but thick, like rice pudding.

Broad bean soup

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) fatty meat
1 kg (2.2 lb) broad beans
2 onions
2 soup spoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the meat, add the beans and either chopped or sliced onions then, shortly afterwards, the tomato paste, spices and salt. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Lelig soup

Ingredients
1 kg (2.2 lb) nuvig panchar*
1 cup de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 soup spoons flour
2 soup spoons sumach
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
This must be prepared the day prior to serving.
Mix and knead the flour and sumach with water and leave to turn bitter. Wet the chopped nuvig, de-husked wheat, spices and bitter dough in hot water the night before serving. Cook on the day it is to be served, adding the chopped onions and chopped garlic.

*A mountain vegetable (arum maculatum), whose name translates as ‘friar’s cowl’ or ‘wakerobin’ that is like spinach.

Pibig soup

Ingredients
1 cup de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
1 cup beans
1 cup terebinth (
peveg) berries
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the previously soaked cereal, add the ground and salted terebinth berries and spices. Cook for a further 10 minutes.

Among other simple soups, mention should be made of tsirinabur (wheat soup), prepared by adding oil to boiled de-husked wheat. If the water for this soup is too little, it becomes keshko. To prepare chirton abur (winter curds soup) add beaten curds to the boiled de-husked wheat.

Sesame paste soup with wheat

Ingredients
1 cup de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
½ cup sesame paste
2 onions
½ teaspoon each of cumin, red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the de-husked wheat and sliced onion, add the sesame paste and spices. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Keyap* soup (rhubarb soup)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) meat
1 kg (2.2 lb) rhubarb
2 onions
1 teaspoon each of sumach, red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the meat, add the chopped rhubarb, chopped onions and spices. Boil until the rhubarb is tender.

*Keyap or kap is the name for rhubarb.

During spring fast days, soups using mountain vegetables are generally prepared in the same simple way; for example paghegh soup, ughen soup, pendjorabur, and so forth. The daily soup is terkhene soup, prepared with previously dried curds (tarkhana), to which boiling water and oil or olive oil is added.

Daily dishes are salads made with boiled cereals, vegetable salads and fried items, as well as boiled dishes and items made with milk products. Let us separate the unusual recipes. [9]

Usbiusiukh

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) mushrooms
½ kg (1.1 lb) beans
1 cup lentils
2 onions
2 soup spoons oil (or 100 g, 3.5 oz butter)
2 soup spoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Cook the chopped mushrooms and beans together and add the lentils when it is half boiled, then add the tomato paste and season. Add this to the pan containing the chopped onions that have been fried until they are brown. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Eaghdiudziusb (vosbnatan)

Ingredients
2 cups ground cereals (lentils, de-husked wheat, chickpeas)
2 onions
2 soup spoons oil (or 100 g, 3.5 oz butter)
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Vinegar and salt

Preparation
Boil the cereals, add the chopped onion that has been fried until browned, spices and vinegar and boil for a further 10 minutes.

Soghanle

Ingredients
1 cup chickpeas
½ kg (1.1 lb) fatty meat
½ kg (1.1 lb) onions
2 soup spoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the meat and the previously soaked chickpeas, add the tomato paste, the chopped onion generously, and season. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Baderde

Ingredients
1 cup dried beans
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz butter)
1 soup spoon tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt
Bread

Preparation
Boil the previously soaked beans, add the tomato paste mixed in the hot oil and season. Boil for a further 10 minutes. Serve hot with crushed garlic, fill it with torn-up old bread.

Hadeg*

Ingredients
½ cup broad beans
½ cup maize
½ cup beans
½ cup de-husked wheat (
dzedzadz)
½ cup peas
1 teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Thyme
Salt

Preparation
Boil the previously soaked cereals, mix, season and serve hot.

*There is a sweet version of this. After boiling the cereals and cooling them, small pieces of sugar, dried almonds, walnuts and raisins are sprinkled on topt. It is generally prepared when a baby cuts a tooth or on anyone’s name day. [10]

Shuvro

Ingredients
1 cup beans
3 onions
½ cup coarse cracked wheat (bulgur)
Basil
Parsley
½ teaspoonful each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the previously soaked beans, add the cracked wheat, chopped onions, basil and parsley, season. Boil for a further 10 minutes.

Dulmo (stuffed vegetables)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) ground fatty meat
2 cups of coarse cracked wheat (bulgur)
2 onions
2 peppers
2 soup spoons tomato paste
1 soup spoon powdered mint
Fresh basil and salt
1kg (2.2 lb) shingiyor (a kind of striped cucumber) and cucumber*

Preparation
Scoop out small shingiyor and cucumbers. Mix the other ingredients and fill the scooped vegetables. Mix the tomato paste and mint into the water the stuffed vegetables are to be cooked in, and add them to the water. Cook over a low heat.

*Vegetables for winter dolma are scooped out and dried.

Aprokh (stuffed vine leaves)

Ingredients
The same as for dolma, but replacing the vegetables with grape vine leaves.

Preparation
Put the leaves into boiling water until tender. Prepare the filling and wrap a small amount of it in each of the vine leaves. Place them in a saucepan with a flat weight on them to prevent the cracked wheat escaping if they move when cooking. Fill saucepan with water and cook. Serve hot, with tan (yogurt and water mixture) and spring onions.

Basdermo

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) fatty meat
1 kg (2.2 lb) marrow
1 soup spoon each of sumach water and powdered mint
½ teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the meat, then add the marrow, cut into large pieces, and season. Boil until the marrow is tender.

Dabgodz eshpagh

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) marrow
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz) butter
2 eggs
1 cup water
Salt

Preparation
Heat the oil, add the water. When it begins to boil add the chopped marrow and, after it has boiled, add the beaten eggs.

Let us recall several other kinds of egg dishes. [11]

Fried eggs

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 soup spoon starch (nesha, nişasta in Turkish)
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz) butter
I soup spoon honey
Salt

Preparation
Beat the eggs, add the salt and starch then, having heated the oil, add the mixture. After cooking one side, turn it over. Serve with honey. Instead of honey, fry 50 g (1.75 oz) chopped apricot sheets (basdegh, pestil in Turkish) and add it on top of the omelette. Made this way it is called chughtog dabgilo.

Agnir

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz) butter
1 soup spoon flour
1 soup spoon tomato paste
Red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Heat the oil and add the tomato paste, and season with the pepper. Beat the eggs and add the salt and flour. Add to the hot oil and fry.

Chormor

Ingredients
10 eggs
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz) butter
1 cup water
Parsley
Red pepper
Salt

Preparation
Heat the oil and add the water and boil. Beat the eggs, add to the water, boil, then add the chopped parsley and season. Serve with cooked liver and pilav.

Pilavs, in the cuisine of Zeytun, [12] are served as accompanying dishes, prepared with either cracked wheat or rice. But they are not usual. If in other places they are only boiled, in Zeytun they are often cooked with vermicelli.

Liver with cracked wheat (djigearov boghlur)

Ingredients
½ kg (1.1 lb) liver
2 cups coarse cracked wheat (bulgur)
4 cups water
2 peppers
2 soup spoons oil (or 100 g, 3.5 oz) butter
Basil
½ teaspoon each of red and black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Chop the liver and sear separately. Add the water and spices and boil. Then add the cracked wheat, ground pepper and basil. After the water has been absorbed, mix in the oil.

Iughiurt heyad boghlur

Ingredients
2 cups coarse cracked wheat (bulgur)
4 cups water
2 soup spoons oil (or 100 g, 3.5 oz) butter
Basil
Red pepper
Salt

Preparation
Boil the cracked wheat in the water, add the chopped basil and pepper. When the water has been absorbed, stir in the oil.

Hadruz

Ingredients
1 cup rice
½ cup vermicelli
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz butter)
2 cups water
Salt

Preparation
Fry the vermicelli in the oil, then add the rice. Stir for a few minutes, and then add the water which is boiling. Cook over a medium heat until the water has been absorbed. Put a lid on the pan and leave to rest, so that the grains of rice become separate. [13]

We should not forget to mention dishes that seem poorer, but are nourishing, such as:

Kheshmeyar

Ingredients
½ cup flour
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz butter)
3 cups water
Salt

Preparation
Dissolve the flour in the water, add the oil and boil, stirring continuously.

Dust-water (poshechur)

Ingredients
½ cup flour
½ cup syrup
1 soup spoon oil (or 50 g, 1.75 oz butter)
3 cups water

Preparation
Dissolve the flour in the water and heat. Then add the syrup, and boil, stirring continuously. Add the oil and remove from the heat.

Turning to sweets, [14] we should stress that they too are simple to prepare but are very nourishing and tasty.

Mighreov beoreg

Ingredients
1 cup walnuts
½ cup honey
2 soup spoons oil (or 100g, 3.5 oz butter)
Bread

Preparation
Mix the ground walnuts and honey and, having spread on the inside of the bread, fry.

Hapusa

Ingredients
2 soup spoons oil (or 100g, 3.5 oz butter)
½ cup syrup
2 soup spoons starch
3 cups water

Preparation
Pour the syrup onto the hot oil, then add the starch and water mixture and boil. Serve with oil and bread.

Hatsgenir

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon yeast
Salt
Oil

Preparation
Make dough then leave it for a few hours until it has risen. Divide into small breads and fry them in the oil.

Markachor or khoshab (dried fruit water)

Ingredients
1 kg (2,2 lb) various dried fruits
2 litres (3.5 pints) water
1 cup syrup
Cinnamon (to taste)

Preparation
Pour boiling water on to the dried fruit, bring it to the boil, then turn off the heat. Add the syrup and serve tepid, as medicinal tea or cold, as a cooling drink. Occasionally ground walnuts are added to the syrup; in this instance it is served by the spoonful, as a sweet.

The dish on a feast day is hirise (harisa), which is served with oil and, without fail, oghi (raki). Kello, the head and feet of an animal that have been fried, cleaned very, very carefully and washed several times then boiled, is only partly eaten as meat, while the rest, separated from the bones, is put into broth and tomato paste and garlic added. Madogh (sacrificial animal) is prepared by boiling the meat, with rice or cracked wheat soup. [15]

As we said above, Zeytun has a long and severe winter therefore preparations have to be made for it. A large part of each housewife’s summer work is making preserves. [16]

Boghlur (cracked wheat, bulgur) is the most important food; after cleaning and boiling the wheat, one part of it is kept as dzedzadz (de-husked wheat), and the rest is taken to the mill, milled then, before storage, is separated into three types: coarse, for pilavs and dishes; medium for keofte (köfte, gololag, patties), and the finest is like flour and is called siminder, and is mixed with the medium kind when patties are made (so that the flour casing holds well) as well as in other dishes, especially on fast days.

De-husked wheat, lentils and chickpeas are roughly (large) ground to make them the same size when making the dish called eyaghtsdziusb.

Terkhene, which is specific to many regions, is made in Zeytun almost every day as breakfast, so each house prepares great quantities of it in summer, when it is extremely hot. Plenty of yogurt is also made.

Terkhene

Ingredients
I kg (2.2 lb) de-husked wheat (dzedzadz)
2 litres (3.5 pints) yogurt
Salt

Preparation
Pour the previously soaked de-husked wheat onto the yogurt and boil, adding the salt. Leave it to cool. Mix while it is still tepid. Add yogurt if necessary, knead, and make into palm-shaped cakes called, in Zeytun dialect, djangeg. These are made by squeezing an amount in the hand. They are then laid out on a clean sheet to dry. They are turned over every day so that they dry out completely. They are then collected, broken up and spread out so that they dry out absolutely. It is stored in cloth bags or glass jars in a dark, cool place.

Turshi (pickles)

Ingredients
1 kg (2.2 lb) green tomatoes or peppers
½ bunch parsley
1 complete head of garlic
60 g (2 oz) coarse salt to each litre (1.75 pints) water
1 cup vinegar

Preparation
Put the vegetables in a glass vessel, fill the spaces between them with the parsley and the cloves of the garlic. Prepare the salt water and vinegar mixture and pour it into the vessel, covering the contents.

For dolma (stuffed vegetables), fresh shingiyor (a kind of cucumber), aubergines and peppers are scooped out, put onto strings and dried. Beans, okra, as well as shingiyor, cucumber, sugar melon, marrow, and so forth are cut into cubes and dried in the same way. Greens, for example mint, basil, parsley, thyme, wild medicinal plants used in making infusions are also part of the store of preserves, as are dried fruit. Of course, there is plenty of chortan (curds), prepared by boiling churned tan (yogurt and water mixture), draining and drying in the sun. Naturally, all kinds of cereals are also stored. Each housewife, in accordance with the number of individuals in the family, has storage jars filled with vermicelli, tomato paste, cheese, oil, olives, sesame paste and olive oil.

As a result of the grape harvest raisins are prepared, as are syrup, wine and oghi (raki) which are exported, sold or are bartered for bread cereals. The following kinds of grapes are mused to prepare raisins: siunsolur, which is a grape the size of a plum, the golden coloured miagde (one pip) and teazeaviur (takavor, king) as well as the pipless dzenag.

Raisins

Ingredients
5 kg (11 lb) grapes
1 kg (2.2 lb) wood ash
5 litres (8.7 pints) water
1 cup olive oil

Preparation
Boil the water, add the sieved ash. Leave it to cool and the ash to settle to the bottom. Add the washed and cleaned bunches of grapes (removing the rotten ones), then add the olive oil. Remove the bunches of grapes after a few minutes and spread them out in the sun. They will dry out in about 15 days. The water containing ash will keep them free of diseases, and the olive oil gives them a shiny, polished appearance, as well as protecting them from the air.

Oroub (roub, pekmez, shrig, syrup)

Ingredients
5 kg (11 lb) grapes
1 cup white soil (meyark)

Preparation
Crush the grapes, strain the juice. Add the soil to the juice, leaving the mixture to rest and the soil to settle at the bottom. The white soil assists the juice to clarify and the bitter element of the grapes to be filtered out. Then it is carefully poured into a cauldron and cooked over a medium heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens. It is stored in glass jars.

Fig sweet (tezeov anush)

Ingredients
1 kg (2.2 lb) dried figs
1 cup syrup
¼ cup water

Preparation
Mix the syrup and water, boil it and add the dried figs. Boil it until the figs become tender, being careful that they do not change.

Quince, sugar melon, marrow and grape sweets are made in the same way. The only difference, in the case of making that of marrow, is that the pieces are put into lime water first.

Chughtog (basdegh, pestil, sweet sheets)

Ingredients
1 litre (1.75 pints) syrup
1 cup starch
1 cup water

Preparation
Boil the syrup, add the starch that has been dissolved in water, and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously. Spread on a clean piece of cloth that is laid in a tray. After drying in the sun, dampen the reverse of the cloth and remove the sweet sheet.

Cutting the sheets into strips, filling the middle with walnuts and rolling them up creates the sweet called muskho.

Sudjukh (sharots, rodjig, cevizli sucuk, dried fruit on a string)

Ingredients
1 kg (2.2 lbs) walnuts
1 litre (1.75 pints) syrup
2 cups starch
1 cup water

Preparation
Thread half-dried walnut kernels on a string, hang up to dry. Boil the syrup, add the water which has had the starch dissolved in it, and cook over gentle heat, stirring continuously. Dip the strings of walnuts in the prepared hot mixture and then hang to dry. When cooled, dip again, then hang once more. Repeat this several times.

Editor's note

Are you familiar with the cuisine of Zeytun, its ingredients and methods of preparation? Do you have additions or objections to the information contained in this article? You can send your explanations or information to our address: houshamadyan(at)gmail.com
It is imperative that you give us your name, surname and the source of you.

  • [1] Hagop Allahverdian, Ulnia or Zeytun, Constantinople, 1884, pp. 64-65. (In Armenian)
  • [2] Zeytuntsi, From Zeytun’s past and present, Part 1, Vienna, 1900, p. 12. (In Armenian)
  • [3] Mamigon Varjabedian, Memories from Zeytun, Marsovan, 1912, p. 13. (In Armenian)
  • [4] Deovlet (Deovlet Kevorkian), Sandokh, Paris, 1945, p. 83. (In Armenian)
  • [5] Haigazun Boghosian, History of Zeytun, Yerevan, 1969, p. 73. (In Armenian)
  • [6] Boghos Melkonian, Zeytun, cradle of the brave, Yerevan, 2000, p. 10. (In Armenian)
  • [7] Zeytuntsi, From Zeytun’s past and present, Part 2, Paris, 1903, p. 124. (In Armenian)
  • [8] Allahverdian, Ulnia or Zeytun..., p. 34-52.
  • [9] Ibid.
  • [10] Misak Siserian (M Ulnetsi), History of Zeytun (1409-1921), Lebanon, 1996, p. 204.
  • [11] Allahverdian, Ulnia or Zeytun..., p. 34-52.
  • [12] Ibid.
  • [13] Deovlet, Sandokh..., p. 86.
  • [14] Allahverdian, Ulnia or Zeytun..., p. 34-52.
  • [15] Ibid.
  • [16] Ibid.