Turkish sour stem thing
 

Something I've seen on sale in Istanbul a couple of times:
bundles of green stems about a foot long with slightly hairy
skin. You peel the skin off and chew them. They taste like
rather woody raw rhubarb. According to one person I spoke
to, they're from somewhere a long way from Istanbul. They
seem like the sort of thing a shepherd might chew on for
lack of any real fruit and then get nostalgic about. You
see peasants on buses chewing them. They doubtless have
lots of vitamin C but are not really a taste treat.

What is the plant? Turkish name or Linnaean binomial.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Turkish sour stem thing
 

"Jack Campin - bogus address" >

> Something I've seen on sale in Istanbul a couple of times:
> bundles of green stems about a foot long with slightly hairy
> skin. You peel the skin off and chew them. They taste like
> rather woody raw rhubarb. According to one person I spoke
> to, they're from somewhere a long way from Istanbul. They
> seem like the sort of thing a shepherd might chew on for
> lack of any real fruit and then get nostalgic about. You
> see peasants on buses chewing them. They doubtless have
> lots of vitamin C but are not really a taste treat.
> What is the plant? Turkish name or Linnaean binomial.

I've lived in Turkey for nearly 40 years and I've never seen or heard of
anything like this. I'm having it researched.

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

Turkish sour stem thing
 

>> Something I've seen on sale in Istanbul a couple of times:
>> bundles of green stems about a foot long with slightly hairy
>> skin. You peel the skin off and chew them. They taste like
>> rather woody raw rhubarb. According to one person I spoke
>> to, they're from somewhere a long way from Istanbul. They
>> seem like the sort of thing a shepherd might chew on for
>> lack of any real fruit and then get nostalgic about. You
>> see peasants on buses chewing them. They doubtless have
>> lots of vitamin C but are not really a taste treat.
>> What is the plant? Turkish name or Linnaean binomial.
> I've lived in Turkey for nearly 40 years and I've never seen
> or heard of anything like this. I'm having it researched.

Another data point: I've only seen them sold by guys walking
around with plastic bags full of them, not on market stalls.
Which suggests they're gathered or else grown on a very small
scale in people's gardens, rather than being a commercial crop.

I may have seen them in Urfa as well, not sure about that.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Turkish sour stem thing
 

"Jack Campin - bogus address" > wrote


> Another data point: I've only seen them sold by guys walking
> around with plastic bags full of them, not on market stalls.
> Which suggests they're gathered or else grown on a very small
> scale in people's gardens, rather than being a commercial crop.

Could they be a seasonal thing?

> I may have seen them in Urfa as well, not sure about that.

When I read your original message my first thought was "Southeast Anatolia".
I'll see if that clue is of any help.

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

Turkish sour stem thing
 

"Jack Campin - bogus address" > wrote in message
...
> Something I've seen on sale in Istanbul a couple of times:
> bundles of green stems about a foot long with slightly hairy
> skin. You peel the skin off and chew them. They taste like
> rather woody raw rhubarb. According to one person I spoke
> to, they're from somewhere a long way from Istanbul. They
> seem like the sort of thing a shepherd might chew on for
> lack of any real fruit and then get nostalgic about. You
> see peasants on buses chewing them. They doubtless have
> lots of vitamin C but are not really a taste treat.
>
> What is the plant? Turkish name or Linnaean binomial.
>
My best guess is that it is some variety of sorrel (Rumex).
Definitely a good source of vitamin C. My grandmother used to
make soup from sorrel leaves (Schav). Even the little weedy sorrel
found in the lawn is usable in a pinch if you can't find the big cultivated
type.

WEL