Molasses

medre gu-mat-Zumallan etva alma kat-etvale karmane. kut-alma etvale kha-takhta, ya-tre-takhte, ya-kha-tanap karmane. ita b-danet keta alma k-azelva karmane anve ki-jammivalun.

Again in the village of Zumallan there were people who had orchards. Each family had a plot or two plots or a tanap of orchards. Now, in the summer the people used to go to the orchards and gather grapes.

anne anve ki-peshiva jummiyye b-kertale. ki-mayyivalun al-khase. gu-betvate kut beta k-oya tanuye etvale kha-charaz. anne anve gari garshivalun b-khase men karma hal gu-charaz. gu-charaz anne anve ki …. marchivalun kat-miyye paltilun. bar mrachtet anne anve, anne miyyet … anve ki-darivalun gu-khakma … tagharet ki-karakhlun anne taghare k-aviva kire arra mutte gu-arra hal palge.

These grapes used to be gathered in pannier-baskets. They used to bring them on their backs to the houses. One may say that each family used to have a wine-press. They had to carry these grapes on their backs from the vineyard up to the winepress. In the wine-press they used to crush the grapes in order to extract their juice. After crushing the grapes—they used to pour the juice of the grapes into what we used to call ‘bins.’ These bins—they used to have dug up the ground and placed them in the ground up to their middle.

bar anne miyyet anve ki-darivalun gu-taghare etva kha … men upra, k-aziva men-khakma rumyate tammez, ki-machkhivale, b-shemmet khorana. ki-mayyivale khachcha menne ki-khotivalun gu-danne miyyet anve. b-lele orava al-morisha e-dan ativa anne miyyet anve kat k-aviva khvite akh miyya tinane ka-morisha k-aviva akhet-amri sepye akh-ziga.

After they poured the grape juice into the bins, there was (a kind of) soil, they used to go to some clean hills and find it, (it is known) by the name of +xorana (‘whitener’). They used to bring it and mix a little of it with the grape juice. At night and as morning broke, when they came, the grape juice, which was mixed like muddy water, by the morning was, as they say, clear as a bell.

ita men-danne miyyet anve sepye ki-shakliva khachcha ki-darivalun gu-tiyan. khachcha khvaret bita ki-tarpiva ki-makhiva gave. a tiyan ki-mattivala al-ojakhta. ojakhta b-shenne kamaye, akh betkharen, kese ki-mattiva allo. ina shenne kharaye kat alma etvale zuyze k-amsiva zoniva nuyta. b-nuyta bush-zoda ojakhyate zurzeva. har-o-shula k-odivale, ina bush hasanay, bush tammez.

Then from this pure grape juice they used to take a little and pour it into a cauldron. They used to beat a little egg-white and throw it in it. They used to place this cauldron on the hearth. In the early years, according to what I remember, they used to put wood on the hearth, but in recent years, because the people had money and could purchase oil, they had mostly made oil hearths. They used to perform the same task, but more easily and cleanly.

a … miyyet anve ki-mardekhkhivalun kha-palget saat, balket arpi khamsha dakike, klitela al-guruytet tiyan. kharta anne ki-paltava nipukhta. a nipukhta k-aviva rango kuma. ki-jammivala gu-kadale. b-yumane gari aviva a nipukhta kesa ki-mattiva gavo, ki-tarpivala. b-traptet nipukhta rango men-ranget kuma ki-khaverva k-aviva khvara.

They used to boil the grape juice for half an hour, or perhaps forty-five minutes, depending on the size of the cauldron. Then the juice would come out as grape molasses. The colour of the molasses was black. They used to collect it in pots. For days they had to place a stick in this molasses. They used to beat it. Through the beating of the molasses its colour used to change from the colour black and it used to become white.

ita ki-kashyava k-oyava takriban akh karra, ina rango khachcha smuknaya. kul betuyta, k-oya tanuye, a-shula … k-odivale, bashaltet nipukhta. b-keta a shula k-odivale kat ka-kulle metkhet setva anne avilun nipukhta.

Then it thickened and became almost like butter, but its colour was slightly reddish. One may say that every family used to do this thing, the cooking of molasses. They used to do this thing in summer so that they would have molasses for the entire period of winter.

u-hajat bukara bitayele al-shemmet nipukhta. akhnan kha-shemmele har-shemyuvakh ina lekh raba sukhsiyye allu mut-manay etle. b-kha-tahar bitayele b-khabret Pna-pokhteP. yane bal-ket kha … farsaya … aviva khezye mirena mu vadetun? mirena bashulekh khezyele kha-mendi balket mirele aha Pna-pokhteP-la yane lela bshelta. a khabra b-metkhet shenne khdirele shkilele shemmet nipukhta.

The topic, the question arises regarding the (origin of the) name nipuxta (‘molasses’). We have always heard it as being a single name, but we have not researched it much as to what its meaning is. According to one group (of people) it originates in the (Persian) word na-poxte. That is maybe a Persian had seen and said ‘What are you doing?’ Then they said ‘We are cooking,’ he saw something and perhaps said ‘This is na-poxte,’ that is ‘it is not cooked.’ This word, in the course of the years, changed and assumed the form nipuxta.

kha-sama khinada alma etten kat-ki-tani men-gibet nipukhta Pmeye pokhteP sabab PmeP b-lishanet farset har-medre manayet khamra yavela. har-nipukhtaze men-miyyet anve pyashela shkelta, albatta la khdira al-khamra, mirena Pmeye pokhte.P medre har-b-metkhet shenne a khabra khdirele viyyele nipukhta akhet beddayekh kat-udyu.

There is another group of people who instead of nipuxta say meye poxte, because me in Persian has the meaning of wine. Molasses too is produced from grape juice, but of course it has not turned into wine. Thus they said meyenapoxte (‘uncooked wine’) and again with the passage of the years this word has turned into nipuxta, as we know it today.

an adatte, k-oya tanuye, gu-matvatet Urmi k-odivalun ka-bashaltet nipukhta udyu yumaze lakhkha gu-Amerika gu-mditet Turlokk, hatta lakhkha gu-mditet Los-Angeles akhnan gananze medre o-shula k-odakhle. yane k-azakh ki-zonakh anve ki-marchakhlun ki-bashlakhlun har-b-de sestimet gu-mata k-odakhvala. a-shula lakhkhaze k-odakhle ita ahaze kha men-adattet bne-Urmila kat-gu-metkhet shenne vidona udyu yumaze ntirona.

They used to practice these traditions, one may say, in the villages of Urmi for cooking molasses. Until now too, we still practice this tradition here in America, in the city of Turlock, even here in the city of Los Angeles. That is we go and buy grapes, we crush them and cook them, just like the system that we used to practice in the village. We practice it here too. So this too is one of the traditions of the Urmi people that they have practiced for a period of many years and they have preserved it to this very day.