GAZİANTEP PROVINCIAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURE AND TOURISM

What To Buy?

What to Buy?

Handicrafts are highly developed in Gaziantep, so in the old bazaars you can find items inlaid with mother-of-pearl, copper wares, woven kutnu fabric, ties, shawls, scarves, hand-made pure leather yemeni shoes, slippers, the hand embroidery known as “Antep İşi”, and hand-made rugs and kilims. In the old bazaars and markets you will find many irresistible goods including: dried peppers, aubergines, squash and gherkins, hot pepper flakes, kuru zahter (a blend of thyme for infusions), kahvaltılık zahter (a thyme-based spice mix for breakfast time), bulgur (cracked wheat), simit (fine cracked wheat), haspir (safflower), local black and yellow raisins, sesame helva, pestil (dried fruit rollups), triangular muska sweets, tatlı sucuk (“sweet sausages” made with nuts and grape jelly) and pistachios. Other delicious foods to take home from Gaziantep are baklava (the kuru or “dry” kind, or yaş with a kind of cream and more syrup), kurabiye – cookies – plain or with pistachios, dolama, şöbiyet, havuç dilimi baklava and the traditional kahke cookies.