Description of Challenge
Preserving food without a refrigerator
Solution
Tarhana is a traditional dish in Turkish cuisine that refers to a dough or powder made using various vegetables, spices, yeast, and yogurt. The name can refer to the actual powder or dough itself, as well as a soup made by using the dough or powder and adding boiling water.
Created as a way of preserving food before the invention of refrigerators and other safe food storage methods, this is effectively one of the oldest instant soups. Tarhana mixes can be purchased from grocery stores, especially those that focus on Turkish foodstuffs, or made at home.
When the term “tarhana” is used, it can refer to either the powder or dough created using different vegetables or to a soup made using this prepared powder or dough. The creation of this mixture is fairly simple, though a bit time consuming due to the fact that it is allowed to ferment.
This is the preserve of the villagers who do a marvellous job of cutting, trimming and drying all the glorious summer vegetables and herbs to make this winter staple and it happens at the end of August or early September. Basically it is a mixture of crushed wheat with yogurt and flour along with peppers, onions, tomatoes and bunches of fresh mint and parsley. This is prepared and laid out on rooftops to dry out over a 4-5 day period. As it dries, the village women crumble it by hand.
The fermentation produces lactic acid and other compounds giving Tarhana its characteristic sour taste and good keeping properties: the pH is lowered to 3.4-4.2, and the drying step reduces the moisture content to 6-10%, resulting in a medium inhospitable to pathogens and spoilage organisms, while preserving the milk proteins.
