Kar Şerbeti – Turkey’s Perfect Hot Weather Refreshment

There is nothing better than seeing one of these Kar Şerbeti signs in the Fethiye hot, summer months of July, August and September.

When the weather is like this and you are dragging your weary body around the Tuesday market in Fethiye, the Kar Şerbeti sign is very welcome – think sighting of an oasis in the desert.

‘Kar‘ means ‘snow’ and ‘şerbet‘ means, well, ‘sherbet.’

Kar şerbeti is actually a handmade slush – no swirling machines, here!

And on Tuesdays, when you sit down to have one at the market, it is money well spent.

Kat şerbeti isn’t only available when you’re en route to the market, of course.

Look out for it in rural areas, too.

Roadside areas in places like Kayaköy and Saklıkent Gorge are also common kar şerbeti zones.

These places will also often sell fresh fruit juice drinks such as orange juice and pomegranate juice.

Kar Şerbeti Flavours

Fruity, slushy ice on a roasting hot day; no comparison.

The three plastic bottles in the photo contain the fruit juices for the kar şerbeti.

This particular stall has a choice of cherry, lemon and pekmez.

Pekmez is the syrup of boiled down fruits with probably the most common fruit being grapes.

This stall sells the grape pekmez.

No Slush Puppy machinery for a kar şerbeti. No, no, no, no.

The big sack on the left hand side of the photograph is encasing a huge block of ice, allegedly from the mountains.

When someone orders a kar şerbeti, a chunk of ice is chiselled off, placed in the metal bowl (like a pestle and mortar) and the lady expertly grinds it until it resembles slush.

The crushed ice is tipped into glasses, a glug of your chosen juice poured over the top and your kar şerbeti is served to you with a plastic spoon.

And why is this superior to slush made in a machine?

Well it just tastes homemade and you’ve witnessed the work that has gone into preparing your drink.

You get some little chunks of ice as well as your slush.

You also get some bits that are more fruity than others – little zones where the fruit juice is yet to be absorbed.

And if you’re reading this on a hot day, well, how good do those kar şerbetleri look right now?

Share this article