Şıra or sira is a Turkish non-alcoholic drink made from slightly

fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

grape juice Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as '' must''. The sugars in grape juice allow it to ...

. It tastes sweet due to the high

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorb ...

it contains. Its colour is terracotta. It's mostly served with

İskender kebap İskender kebap is a Turkish dish that consists of sliced döner kebab meat topped with hot tomato sauce over pieces of pita bread (sometimes croutons) and generously slathered with melted special sheep's milk butter and yogurt. It can be prepar ...

. A flavored version of şıra is served in the

Marmara Region The Marmara Region ( Turkish: ''Marmara Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. Located in northwestern Turkey, it is bordered by Greece and the Aegean Sea to the west, Bulgaria and the Black Sea to the north, the Black Sea Region to t ...

with the name of

hardaliye Hardaliye is a lactic acid fermented beverage produced from grapes, crushed mustard seeds, sour cherry leaves, and benzoic acid. It is an indigenous drink of the Trakya region of Turkey in southeastern Europe. A 2013 study showed that the ingesti ...

. Hardaliye is basically a şıra aromatized in mustard seeds and cherry leaves for 15 days. Hardaliye is usually served in special occasions as an appetizer.

References

Turkish words and phrases Turkish inventions Turkish cuisine {{nonalcoholic-drink-stub