At the chai stand we saw these Turkish women hard at work. We didn't know what they were doing, there was one of them wearing wellies and was stomping on a bag of something. The other woman was preparing the crates of grapes for stomping. Then we realised, they are pressing the grapes for the grape juice. How ingenious! This was how they extract the grape juice without the use of any mechanical means. We saw a family, the night before, tending to an open fire and they were boiling down the grape juice. Our guide said, they are making 'pekmez.' It's really grape jam, made by boiling the grape juice into a thick 'molasses' consistency.
The Italian wine makers could learn a thing or two from these Turkish women. Why stomp with your bare feet, why not wear your wellies. Grapes grow abundantly in the poor soil in Cappadocia and the locals, being Muslims, do not make wine from the grapes. So all the grapes is turned into 'Pekmez.'
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