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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from Eastern Thrace, Turkey

Hardaliyehardaliye

Hardaliye is a red, lightly pungent grape drink from Thrace. Crushed red grapes with their skins and seeds are layered in a vat with sour cherry leaves and crushed mustard seed, fermented by lactic bacteria for several weeks, then settled and drawn off clear. Made in 5 steps over 13 months – 14 months. The longest step, bottle and keep cold, takes up to 12 months (Turkish Patent and Trademark Office 2017) and runs at 5–10 °C (Turkish Patent and Trademark Office 2017). Lacticaseibacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei and Lactobacillus casei subsp. pseudoplantarum, which dominate a succession of lactobacilli does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 12 monthsSet[gi278][atmaca2023]Bottle and keep cold
Temperature5–10 °CSet[gi278]Bottle and keep cold
AciditypH 3.2–4Measured[arici2001]Bottle and keep cold
Fully documentedSoft drinks13 months – 14 monthsKırklareli Hardaliyesi, Turkish geographical indication (mahreç işareti) no. 278, registered 2017More soft drinksMore from Turkey

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe GI specification sets the method but no amounts; makers vary the mustard and cherry leaf to taste.
Ripe, aromatic red or black grapes, crushed with skins and seeds · Grown in Kırklareli for the GI product[gi278]
Sour cherry leaves · Scattered between layers of grape pomace; the amount is adjusted to taste[gi278][atmaca2023]
Crushed mustard seed · Fresh or roasted, whole or ground, at various amounts[gi278][atmaca2023]
Sorbic acid or sorbates and/or benzoic acid or benzoates · Preservatives scattered with the leaves and mustard in the GI method[gi278]
Sugar · Optional, when the grapes are low in sugar[atmaca2023]
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 months – 14 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: ripe red grapes, crushed with their skins and seeds

Step 1 of 5
Pick ripe red grapes at vintage and crush them
Time
Made at the grape harvest, in September, October and November
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. paracasei
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacilli
Yeasts

Output: crushed grapes with skins and seeds (pomace and must).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Hardaliye is grape juice fermented by lactic bacteria rather than yeast. Crushed mustard seed and sour cherry leaves layered through the pomace set it apart from wine and from plain grape şıra.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Household hardaliyeFermented 7–10 days at room temperature, or up to 20 days at 10–15 °C, and drunk fresh.
  • Wine-pomace hardaliyeMade from the red grape pomace left over from wine making, such as Cabernet pomace.
  • High-pressure-processed hardaliyePressure treatment at 490 MPa extended shelf life to 228 days at 4 °C in a study.

Safety

Fresh hardaliye is perishable. Keep it cold (the GI specification gives 5–10 °C storage and at most one year at 4–5 °C). No coliforms or E. coli were found in 26 market samples at pH 3.21–3.97.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The GI record says hardaliye was made in Kırklareli at the grape harvest as a traditional way to keep grape must from turning to wine. Kırklareli Hardaliyesi was registered as a Turkish geographical indication in 2017, with protection from 2013.

  1. [gi278] Turkish Patent and Trademark Office 2017, Kırklareli Hardaliyesi, geographical indication no. 278 (mahreç işareti), registered by Kırklareli Chamber of Commerce and Industryspec
  2. [arici2001] Arici M., Coskun F. 2001, Hardaliye, fermented grape juice as a traditional Turkish beverage, Food Microbiology 18(4):417–421, doi:10.1006/fmic.2001.0413 (abstract)paper
  3. [atmaca2023] Atmaca B., Demiray M., Akdemir Evrendilek G., Bulut N., Uzuner S. 2023, High-pressure processing of traditional hardaliye drink, effect on quality and shelf-life extension, Foods 12(15):2876, doi:10.3390/foods12152876paper