Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Acta Horticulturae, cilt.1, sa.1401, ss.9-15, 2024 (Scopus)
The Silk Road route is recognized as one of the most important hotspots of global plant biodiversity. Among plant communities, wild edible fruits (WEFs) are given special emphasis by the people living along Silk Road countries. The local people have been using WEFs mainly as food for centuries. In fact, WEFs are an important part of their lives. WEFs are consumed either as fresh or traditionally processed different local products. These countries have over 100 WEFs. being located on the historical Silk Road, Turkey is also very rich in WEFs. The main groups of WEFs in Turkey belong to berries (mainly mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries), stone fruits (mainly plums, apricots, sweet and sour cherries, cherry laurel), pome fruits (mainly apple, pear, hawthorn, service tree) and small fruits (barberry, cornelian cherry etc.). Most of the agricultural regions of Turkey are occupied by seed-propagated WEFs and the country is called ‘open-air museum’ of WEFs. Local people living in these areas use WEFs as traditional medicine to treat numerous ailments. WEFs in Turkey present rich sources of antioxidants, pigments and have a high market value for livelihood and nutritional security. Compared to cultivated ones, WEFs are rich for human health promoting substances and also shows a great morphological diversity. Several value-added products such as jam, vinegar, pickles, marmalade, jelly are prepared and marketed by small non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and small entrepreneurs and all WEFs have potential for pharmaceutical industry.