In Akseki district of Antalya, located in the Taurus Mountains, molasses is made from cones collected from carob trees."
"Andız pekmezi", which is widely known as a panacea, is sold at 200 TL per kilogram.
"Andız pekmezi", which has been widely produced in Akseki since old times, continues to be produced in Kuyucak Neighborhood of Akseki. Halil Erdoğan, who makes molasses, said they collect ripe cones from carob trees, crush them in a crusher, and soak them in a fermentation house for 2 days.
"It boils at 120 degrees Celsius"
Erdoğan, who said that after taking the syrup of soaked cones, they pour them into pans, "We prepare for molasses making the day before. We wake up at 03:00 at night. We heat the bottoms of the pans we have prepared with hot fire. We boil the syrups in the pans at about 120 degrees Celsius. Of course, making this molasses is not easy. It is quite difficult. It boils for hours. We boil it for about 15 hours. After boiling for 15 hours, we lower the pans by following its consistency. One kilogram of molasses is produced from five kilograms. It is really difficult to make this molasses. I produce about 2 tons of carob molasses annually," he said.
"A natural remedy source of the Taurus Mountains"
Erdoğan, who explained that they collect the raw material of carob molasses from places 1,500-2,000 meters high in the Taurus Mountains, said, "The obtained molasses is completely natural. There is no mixture in it. It is known that carob molasses is good for many diseases such as hemorrhoids, anemia, stomach, lung, liver, rheumatism, diabetes, urinary tract infection, asthma. This molasses is a source of remedy," he said.