Son illər erməni təcavüzünə məruz qalmış bütün Azərbaycan xalqı

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Takhir Amiraslanov, Aynura Amiraslanova
Sources note the high agricultural culture of Karabakh residents. On ir-
rigated land, they cultivated wheat, rice, cotton and mulberry. Mirza Jamal 
Javanshir (1773-1855) recorded in his book "The History of Karabakh" that 
one-fourth of seeded wheat provides 20 quarters of the harvest there. An espe-
cially rich harvest is yielded by rice and millet (over 50 quarters for one quar-
ter). In addition, he points to large herds of cattle and sheep and goats.
The population of Karabakh ate various wild grasses and cultivated gre-
ens. The vizier of Ibrahim Khan of Karabakh – the outstanding Azerbaijani 
poet, thinker and statesman, Molla Panah Vagif, says in his poems:
"Dirrik - tərəvəzə yaxşı keşik çək kişniş, şüyüd, təzə tərəni saxla" ("Guard 
your vegetables and fields of greens - coriander, dill and fresh watercress very 
well, and take care of them!").
In his book, Doctor of History Professor Ziyadkhan Nabibayli names 245 
wild plants which were used only in the cuisine of Lachin District.
Karabakh cuisine also widely used dried fruit, and it was served as a dessert. 
It was used to make khoshab (compote) and was added to the pilaf, soups, meat 
and other dishes. At the All-Russian Exhibition in Moscow in 1882, Karabakh 
fruits - Cornelian cherries, mulberry and cherry plum lavashana (sour candy), 
made by the daughter of the Karabakh khan - poetess Khurshudbanu Natavan, 
were put on display. Having visited Azerbaijan, Alexander Dumas (father) and 
the painter Monet met with her, and Dumas described this meeting in his book 
"Journey to the Caucasus".
Lavashana was borrowed by Slavic cuisine from Azerbaijani cuisine: it is 
mentioned in "The Domostroy" under the name of "levashinki."
The Arab author Ibn Haukal (9th century) recorded that Barda chest-
nuts were larger and more productive than Syrian ones. This is confirmed by 
Hamdallah Qazvini, who writes about Barda in his essay "Nuzhan al-Qulub" 
("Delight of Hearts") (14th century): "There are a lot of fruits here, especi-
ally nuts and chestnuts, which are better than anywhere else." His words are 
confirmed by other Arab travelers. The Arab traveler Al-Istahri (10th century) 
recorded in his "Kitab Masalik al-Mamalik":
"If we talk about Barda, it is a place with a healthy climate, fertile, arable 
land and multiple fruits, and less than one farsakh from Barda, in the town 
of Andarab, there is a wide network of gardens and plantations where they 
grow melons and all kinds of fruit. The local hazelnut is better that those from 
Samarkand, while chestnuts are better than those from Sham. Another fruit, 
called "ruchal" (zugal, zogal - Cornelian cherry - T.A.), grows here.

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32 ●
"The chestnut is half the size of the black walnut and tastes like persimmon 
and hazelnuts. Figs are brought to Barda from Lasub. This is the best fig. There 
are many ownerless mulberry trees here."
The Arab traveler Al-Muqaddasi writes about Barda in the 10th century: 
"Berda'a is a nice and beautiful city rich in fruits. It is a nice city with beautiful 
pastures and two rivers running through it: the faces of its inhabitants are like 
a pearl and coral, and they are also generous and merciful.
"In Berda'a, there is a Sunday market called 'Kurkiyu'... There is nothing 
like the fruit called 'zukol'. They have figs and chestnuts of extremely good 
quality."
Ibn Haukal (10th century) also wrote about Barda. "In Bardaa ... there are 
nuts and shihaballut (chestnut – T.A.), which stand above the Syrian shihibal-
lut in size, charm, taste and abundance of fruits. They grow 'zukal' (apricot), 
which is the size of 'gubeyra'. It has a date seed and tastes sweet when it is ripe. 
In Berda, figs are imported from Lasub, their mulberry trees are available to 
the public, and they do not have owners and are not sold or bought."
Nizami Ganjavi added in the 12th century: "How wonderful and glorious 
Barda is. And flowers bloom here in winter and summer."
The 17th century traveler Evliya Chelebi records: "Karabaglar… a garde-
ner named Yazdon–gulu brought us 26 varieties of juicy pears. Trying the 'ma-
lanja', 'abbasi' and 'ordubadi' pears, you feel the taste of a candy in your mouth. 
There are pomegranates like a ruby. The chefs are clean and all Muslims." In 
another place, he says: "Karabakh includes separate sultanates in the posses-
sions of Tabriz. Food and drinks deserve commendation. There are 10 sorts 
of juicy, ruby-colored grapes; cherry syrup, soft drinks; 18 kinds of delicious 
juicy pomegranates. The local quince the size of the human head is famous."
In his book "Yelizavetopol Province, Impressions and Memories," the 
Russian scientist I. L. Segal describes the Agdam bazaar in 1902 in the follo-
wing way:
"Vans and carts were filled with bags and chuvals of grain bread, baskets of 
fruits and motals (cheese in wineskin – T.A.). The Agdam market has existed 
since 1867. Gardening, mainly mulberry-growing, is one of the most important 
sectors of the economy in Agdam."
Under Article 6 of the Treaty of Kurakchay signed on May 14, 1805 bet-
ween Ibrahim Khan of Karabakh and the Russian Empire (signed by P. D. 
Tsitsianov), Ibrahim Khan agrees to sell the Russian army wheat and oatmeal.
Karabakh cuisine 

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One of the main components of the meal of every Azerbaijani is bread. 
Various types of bread were baked in Karabakh - kullama, bozlamaj, tandir, 
churak, kozlama, komba (ash-cake), lavash, khamrali, yukha, fatir, galincha, 
maldili, chapartma, jad and ajitma.
In both summer and winter, the favorite kind of bread was yukha, which 
was thin as paper. It could be stored for years. People took a saj with them 
when traveling in order to bake yukha. Baked yukha was dried and stacked in 
a pile. Before use, water was sprinkled on it to make it "fresh". For messengers, 
it was milled into flour, and they could eat it on the go without dismounting 
from the horse or quickly prepare it like the Russian "tyuri" by adding water 
and dried minced meat.
Yukha is used to make the traditional sandwiches "durmak" or "burmak". 
To do this, yukha is stuffed with cheese, cottage cheese, herbs or butter, jam or 
meat, rolled up as a tube, folding the bottom so that the stuffing does not fall 
or spill out.
The oldest sajs – made of clay – were found in Karabakh during excavati-
ons at Uzarliktapa (Agdam District). They belong to the 4th millennium B.C. 
Stone and clay sajs were found during archaeological excavations in the entire 
territory of Azerbaijan. Now iron sajs are used.
Sajs are good not just for baking bread and yukha (a kind of flat bread), 
they are also used to bake jad (corn cakes), kata and gutabs (thin pieces of 
dough stuffed with meat and other fillings), national pastry products such as 
fasali, kata and various dishes - sajichi, govurma and jiz-biz. An inverted saj is 
used as a kind of tava (pan).
Unlike other regions, the saj was used in Karabakh to bake "layli yukha" 
– yukha made of layers: in this case, one side of yukha was prepared on the 
previous one. This bread could not be stored for a long time, but it was more 
aromatic and tasty than the usual yukha.
If the dough was kneaded with milk adding honey or sugar, "khirt-khirt 
yukha" (crispy yukha) was made. It was made on holidays and sometimes 
without the sweet filling.
"Lavaş" was made on a saj and tandir. The lavash was mostly cooked in 
Gubadli, Jabrayil, Zangilan and Fizuli districts of Karabakh. "Komba" of puff 
pastry was made in a tandir and under a saj, or on ashes.
Such flour products as "sudlu churak" (milk bread), "fasali", "bishi", "yagli 
koka", "eyirdek", "keppeche" and "sakkizlik" are common in Karabakh. We 
would like to dwell separately on the "kata" (flat pie with greens). Kata is made 
Takhir Amiraslanov, Aynura Amiraslanova

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