Boza
Boza, also bosa, is a
Etymology
According to Turkish etymological dictionary Nişanyan Sözlük, boza is etymologically Turkic in origin. The dictionary states that Old Turkic buχsı or buχsum are cognates, yet it is unclear from which language it was ultimately derived and which one took it as a loanword. Ármin Vámbéry says it is an ancient Turkish word found in Kutadgu Bilig.
The oldest written account of the drink is under the name buχsum and is attested from the 1073
History
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2015) |
Fermented cereal flour (generally millet) drinks have been produced in Anatolia and Mesopotamia since the 9th or 8th millennia BCE, and Xenophon mentioned in the 4th century BCE how the locals preserved and cooled the preparations in earthen pots that were buried.[4] There are references mentioning boza-like "fermented (ground) millet drink" in Akkadian and Sumerian texts; the beverage is said to be respectively arsikku and ar-zig.[5] In the 10th century CE, the drink was called Boza and became common amongst Central Asian Turkic peoples.[6] Later it spread to the Caucasus and the Balkans. It enjoyed its golden age under the Ottomans, and boza-making became a common trade in towns and cities.
Until the 16th century, boza was drunk freely everywhere, but the custom of making the so-called Tartar boza laced with opium brought the wrath of the authorities down on the drink, and it was prohibited by sultan Selim II (1566–1574). He describes a type of non-alcoholic sweet boza of a milk white color usually made by Albanians.
In the 17th century, Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–1687) prohibited alcoholic drinks including boza, and closed down all the boza shops. This prohibition would be reinforced and then loosened several times in the history of the empire. The 17th century Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi reports that boza was widely drunk at this time, and that there were 300 boza shops employing over a thousand people in Istanbul alone.
In this period, boza was widely drunk by the
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci Shop from across street
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci distribution area
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci Consumption area
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci Glass used by Atatürk
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci Transfer to smaller vessel
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Istanbul Vefa Bozaci Transfer to smaller vessel
Production and storage
Boza is produced in the Balkans, notably Bulgaria and most of the Turkic regions, but not always using millet. The flavour varies according to the cereal which is used. Measuring boza samples made from maize, wheat, and rice flours, researchers determined an average of 12.3% total sugar, 1.06% protein, and 0.07% fat.[8]
Boza spoils if not kept in a cool place, therefore boza fermenters in Turkey did not sell boza during the hot summer traditionally, instead selling alternative beverages such as grape juice or lemonade. They produce it in the summer now due to increased availability of refrigeration, and revenue from high demand. Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Albania, and North Macedonia produce boza as a refreshing beverage year-round.
In popular culture
- Mevlut Karataş, the main character in Orhan Pamuk's 2014 novel A Strangeness in My Mind (Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık), is a boza vendor.[9]
- A popular drink in Bulgaria, usually accompanied by a Gevrek
- Serbian group Zana in title track from album Nisam, nisam mentions boza.
Similar beverages
Other beverages from around the world that are traditionally low-alcohol and
References
- ISBN 978-0-8108-8025-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4128-1831-5.
- ^ "boza". Nişanyan Sözlük. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ LeBlanc, Jean Guy; Todorov, Svetoslav Dimitrov (2011). "Bacteriocin producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from Boza, a traditional fermented beverage from Balkan Peninsula – from isolation to application" (PDF). In Méndez-Vilas, A. (ed.). Science against microbial pathogens : communicating current research and technological advances. Badajoz: Formatex Research Center. pp. 1311–1320. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ page 20 of Hungarian-Mesopotamian dictionary by prof. Alfred Toth, Mikes international, 2007 http://www.federatio.org/mi_bibl/AlfredToth_Mesopotamian.pdf
- ISBN 9780907325154.
- ^ Evliya Çelebi; Şinasi Tekin; Gönül Alpay-Tekin; Fahir İz (1989). Evliya Çelebi seyahatnamesi. Harvard Üniversitesi Basımevi.
- .
- ^ Garner, Dwight (October 20, 2015). "Review: Orhan Pamuk's 'A Strangeness in My Mind'". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
External links
- Media related to Boza at Wikimedia Commons