Jam

Jam is a traditional fruit preserve made by cooking the fruit with sugar. Usually it is made of  plums and apricots, but also other sorts of fruits are used – rose hip, peach, apple. In this country it is called pekmez and may somewhat differ from the real jam, but only in its thickness. Jam making also came from the Turks, which originally meant cooking the must, freshly squeezed grape juice. The must was used to make other sweet delicacies, like  sherbet – a sweet drink. With time, jam started to be made of other fruits, with or without the must, as it was primarily used instead of sugar, which became more available.

LANGUAGE

Pekmez, a Turkish word, coming from Persian, bаkmаz – wine, date wine, an alcoholic beverage.

HISTORY

The Ancient Romans also cooked the must, calling it defrutum. They used it as a sweetener, especially with meat, but also for preserving food and as food for suckling pigs and geese, so as to improve the flavour of their flesh. Defrutum was also used by women as a cosmetic.