How to make Juniper Molasses

A big thank you goes to April of In the kitchen with April who has solved the mystery of how juniper molasses (andız pekmez)  is created.   She pointed me to this You Tube clip Making Pekmez in Anamur which shows exactly how it is done.  The cones are collected, then bashed with a hammer and put in a vast vat of water to soak.  The liquid is then strained off and boiled in successive caldrons, until a thousand litres is reduced to a hundred litres and a thick syrup results.   I'm always amazed at how these processes were ever discovered. It takes a great leap of imagination to look at a small juniper cone and create a process to turn it into a nutritious and delicious syrup.  All pekmez is a good source of calcium, potassium and magnesium and juniper molasses is said to be efficacious in the treatment of coughs, bronchitis and hepatitis.
I can't write the word "efficacious" without the Scaffold's "Lily the Pink" starting on a loop in my head.   Shows my age!

Lily the Pink lyrics

Juniper Molasses

It's rare that I come across something new in Turkey so I was excited to discover an unfamiliar  ingredient at the cheese stall last market day. I had no idea what  "andız" were and at first glance thought the picture on the front of the jar was of beets. The cheese-seller wasn't sure what  an andız was either but he knew it grew on a tree, so that ruled out beetroot.  I bought the jar anyway and the nice chap behind the counter gave me a big slice of ricotta free of charge - he'd probably despaired of ever selling this unknown commodity.  When I got home, I tried a teaspoon but this didn't give me any clues so I fired up the Mac and found out that andız pekmez is juniper molasses, (even though the word for "juniper" is "ardıç").  I've never come across this before  and hope somebody reading this will have more information.

I decided to celebrate the new discovery with a biscuit recipe  so here are my Juniper Molasses Cookies.

110g plain flour

80g rolled oats

Half tsp bicarb of soda

50 g sultanas

100g juniper molasses

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

100g butter

• Heat the oven to 180 C
• Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
• Melt the butter, add the molasses and add to the dry ingredients 
• Mix well and drop spoonfuls on to a lined and greased baking try
• Bake on a upper shelf for 15 minutes
• Don't bake until they are completely hard, as they harden up on cooling. 

I tried them out at book club on Wednesday and they got a thumbs-up.