Vegetable sun-drying season begins in Gaziantep

GAZIANTEP

Farmers in Gaziantep, Türkiye’s culinary jewel ranked second on UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in gastronomy, have begun preparing horizontal racks of vegetables tied up with threads for sun-drying on the region's scorching hilltops.

The city, renowned for its culinary heritage, showcases a vibrant variety of peppers, courgettes and augerines drying under intense summer sun.

In the Oğuzeli district, women carefully hollow out the freshly harvested aubergines, peppers and courgettes, preparing them for their sun-drying journey.

The vegetables, arranged on strings attached to wooden poles set high on the city’s hills, are left to dry naturally for about two weeks, developing the unique flavors the southern province is famous for.

Provincial Director of Agriculture Mehmet Karayılan announced the commencement of the drying season. “In Gaziantep, especially with geographically marked products, we see dried products of Oğuzeli. Bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini and bitter gourds. These products products represent our city very well,” he stated.

Highlighting the labor-intensive process, Karayılan added, “It is not very easy to process, but there is very good work here, as there is abundance wherever women’s hands touch.”

“With the effect of the sun and the weather, the peppers turn from green to red. Gaziantep ranks second in Türkiye in pepper production and leads in bitter gourd production. This work makes a significant economic contribution to both the city and Türkiye.”

Gülistan Alpfidan, one of the local workers, shared insights into their daily routine.

“We start early morning and continue until night, carefully hanging the peppers one by one. The vegetables dry in two weeks. We then collect and pack them into bundles of 10.”