And that means the sourest tastes you can imagine!
I find it almost impossible to reconcile a liking for çağla or early almonds in their fledgling fuzzy green skins and also can erik or unripe green plums, with the overwhelmingly sweet tastes of baklava, şeker pare, revani and all the other Turkish delights that we all swoon over.
How can they like them??? I absolutely don’t get it. The sourness makes you gag. It’s worse than anything you can possibly imagine, even more than turşu suyu or pickle juice!
But there you go: different strokes for different folks as they say.
Just so you know, here’s what they look like:
çağla or early spring almonds
Here’s the beautiful fruit plate at Hasanaki‘s in Küçükkuyua few nights ago: can you see the çağla?
I was at my local manav/greengrocer’s earlier this afternoon and saw not only çağla badem but çağla kayısı! In other words, unripe apricots! This is the first time I see these.
çağla badem above with çağla kayısıbelow
Still not widely available as too early, so sold in very special little packets at select manav
I know that there are Turks living abroad who yearn for the taste of these early spring offerings from their home country and will do anything to get hold of them.
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