Pestil

Place of origin	Armenia[1]
Main ingredients	must, nuts, flour or starch[2]
Media: Pestil

Pestil, also known as bastık or pastegh (Armenian: պաստեղ) is dried fruit pulp, best exemplified in the English term "fruit leather." Fruit leather is made from mechanically pulverizing fruit, then spreading it out to dry into a tough, yet flexible and edible material which can be kept preserved for several months in an airtight container. It is a popular dessert in Armenia and Turkey.^[3]

Pestil might be made with different types of fruit beside plums. Apples, apricots, pears, peaches and melons are popular choices.^[4]

Etymology and History

According to Robert Dankoff, the term bastik, used in much of Anatolia including Bursa, Kayseri, and Van, derives from Armenian pasteł (պաստեղ, "pastegh" / "fruit leather") which in turn derives from Ancient Greek pastillos (πάστιλλος, "pastille").^[5] This word and the fruit leather it describes was first attested in Middle Armenian as պաստեղ (pasteġ) in the year 1227 AD.

According to Turkish-Armenian linguist Nişanyan Sevan, pestil and pastillo are cognates and pastillo might have derived from Italian pastello. The dictionary asserts that the relationship between pestil and French pastille is ambiguous. The first Turkish attestation of the word is dated back to 1501 dictionary Câmiü'l-Fürs.^[6]