Historical Perspective on Turkey's Fruit Heritage

Central Asia, original homeland of the Turkish people, has a very long history of fruit cultivation. According to Chinese records the Eastern Gokturks of Turkistan were exporting fruit to China 1300 years ago, notably the Mare's Nipple grape, which was transported fresh from the Turfan oasis across the fringes of the Gobi Desert, a distance of more than 2000 kilometers. This elongated purple grape became so famous in China, that it was mentioned in a poem by Liu Yu-hsi. Turfan is still famous for its grapes, apricots and melons today and the source of most of China's dried fruits.

Transporting fresh fruit across huge distances by camel caravans during the extreme heat of the Central Asian summer was an extraordinary feat, but this was surpassed in the ninth century, when the Turkic state of Khwarazm in Iran exported watermelons to China, carrying them packed in snow in lead containers over a distance of 4000 kilometers. From the memoirs of Babur Shah, the Moghul ruler of Chaghatay Turkic lineage, we learn that Central Asia was renowned for the cultivation of pomegranates, figs, grapes, peaches, apricots, plums, apples and mulberries.

The Seljuk and Oğuz Turks who moved westwards into Asia Minor (Anatolia) brought their tradition of fruit cultivation into a region that was an important centre of biodiversity, and as a cradle of civilisation had its own long tradition of fruit growing. Among the earliest records of Turkey's wide range of cultivated fruit varieties is the travel account of the Moroccan Ibn Battuta in the 14th century, who described the famous Kamereddin apricot of Alanya, which was dried and exported to Egypt, and the large, thin-skinned sweet Maiden grape of Iznik, "the like of which I have never seen elsewhere, of the utmost sweetness, large in size, clear in colour, and thin-skinned, with only one stone to each grape".

OTTOMAN PERIOD 

In Ottoman times (14th-20th century) most houses had gardens, and both rural and city dwellers of all classes were keen fruit growers. The Byzantine historian Kritovoulos, wrote that after Sultan Mehmet II's conquest of Istanbul, 'gardens with trees bearing all sorts of fruit for the delectation and happiness and use of many' were planted in the city, and fruit trees bearing 'beautiful fruit' were planted in the gardens of the royal palace. The 17th century Ottoman writer, Evliya Çelebi, records that several hundred thousand trees were planted in the palace gardens at that time.

From the 15th century onwards many fruit varieties were introduced to Europe from Turkey. The famous Cantaloupe melon was taken to Rome by Armenian priests and grown on the Cantaluppi Farm, hence its name. During the reign of Charles VIII (1483-1498) seeds of this melon were taken to France. The Hungarian historian Sandor Takats has written that many fruits, including melons, watermelons and apricots were introduced to Hungary by the Turks, who established gardens all over the country during the period of Turkish rule. The Ankara and Kasaba melons, the yellow cherry of Sapanca, the 'Turkish orange' and the 'Smyrna quince', which latter was introduced to the United States from Izmir (Smyrna) in 1897, are some of the other fruit varieties originating in Turkey.

Ottoman period documents, including statutes, court records and travel accounts, record the names of many famous and commercial fruit varieties. For example, a statute drawn up in Bursa in 1502 includes a list of retail prices for foodstuffs, among which are around forty fruit varieties. 500 years on some of these varieties are still being cultivated, such as the Seker pear, the Bozdoğan pear, the sour apple, the Musk apple, the Ankara melon, the Birgi pomegranate and Beylerce grape, but unfortunately most of these no longer to be found in greengrocers or markets.

The prominent part played by fresh fruit in the Ottoman diet meant that horticultural skills were advanced, and grafters were a a separate professional group distinct from gardeners. In 17th century Istanbul more than 50,000 professional gardeners and 500 grafters were employed in the city's gardens, orchards and vineyards.

The horticultural work entitled Revnak-i Bostan, written in the 1570s, describes eight different types of graft, explains which types of scion can be stored and techniques for storing and transporting them over long distances.

Various methods of preserving fresh fruit, the extensive trade in fruit, the range of varieties ripening at different times of year, and methods of producing early and out of season fruit meant that it was possible to eat fresh fruit throughout the year. Gardeners who were specialists in out of season fruit and vegetable growing were employed at the imperial gardens attached to the Naval Arsenal on the Golden Horn, and these gardens were renowned for their early fruits and vegetables.

"A house that receives guests must provide four things: cold water, hot food, pleasant conversation and fresh fruit," (Ottoman historian Ahmed Cavid, late 18th century)

20th CENTURY 

Books on fruit growing written up to 1950 record hundreds of fruit varieties of commercial importance grown in different regions of Turkey. The value of traditional agricultural knowledge and practices was also acknowledged (Tosun and Christiansen-Weniger 1939:7): 

“The experience and knowledge of Turkish peasants must not be neglected in the process of agricultural development. On the contrary, these should be be carefully compiled and studied, and what the peasants have to teach us should be given a foremost place in establishing the principles of development."

In his study of pear cultivation in Central Anadolia, Kiper (1941) gives a detailed account of the principal local varieties of pear in 11 provinces, and tells us which were transported for sale outside their own province. He notes that many traditional varieties were already on the verge of extinction, reduced to just a handful of trees. Those varieties that he describes as being of particular importance are the Ankara, Malatya, Tokat, Abbasi, Urungus, Zerdemi, Destebasan and Leblebi Cördük pears. Yet today most of these varieties have been forgotten by horticulturalists.

One part of our project is to produce an inventory of Turkish fruit varieties recorded in Ottoman and modern written sources, and use this information to trace the decline of traditional varieties over the past half century.

“Olives from your grandfather, figs from your father, but plant your own orchard.” (Turkish proverb)