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Isot pepper ready to spice up Sanliurfa's markets

28-08-2019

16 Photos

Karwan Faidhi Dri @KarwanFaidhiDri

Isot - or the Urfa Pepper, named after its site of produce - is being harvested and dried in the Kurdish province of Sanliurfa, southeastern Turkey. High prices await its arrival in local markets this year.

The peppers are planted in spring and harvested in August.

After harvesting, the peppers are machine-crushed and sun-dried. At night, they are wrapped tightly, in a process known as “sweating.” After about a week, the peppers are put in transparent bags and sent to markets.

Isa Isikay is one of the farmers who believes it could be a particularly lucrative year for those in the Urfa pepper trade.

“The demand is high but the production is low. We sold the pepper for 20-40 lira ($3.40-6.80) last year but we are considering selling it at 30-50 lira ($5.10-8.50) this year because the price increases when the demand is high,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Photos taken on August 23 by Anadolu Agency